Local First Arizona's For(u)m: Mesa On The Line Bus Tour
Your MesaZona blogger had a seat at the back-of-the-bus right next to LFA's videographer on 15 November 2017, about three weeks ago. How all the more than two hours of tour time got compressed into about a minute is remarkable. More details in other posts on MesaZona blog - please take a look at both a streaming video and a post written by Connor Descheemaker after the short video of the bus tour. Please note the opening image is from Ray Hernández, with Carmen Guerrero founder of The Cultural Coalition gesturing to the group,from the original source, Local First Arizona. The author of the post, Connor Descheemaker, can be seen at center left. Here's an insert from a streaming video uploaded to YouTube, three weeks after the Mesa On-The-Line Bus Tour. Published on Nov 28, 2017
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"Following the success of our Camelback Light Rail Corridor bus tour, For(u)m shifts its attention eastward. Complementing Local First's work in small-business technical assistance for those affected by the Mesa light rail extension, this bus tour focuses on the current and prospective developments taking place as the light rail runs through downtown Mesa. Along and around Main Street, after decades of mostly-dormancy, Mesa has begun to be awakened. Starting with the singular multicultural experience of Mekong Plaza and the new market-rate townhome development of Main Street Station, the light rail line has welcomed and enhanced affordable housing and mixed-use projects, dynamic new retail, restaurants, and breweries, and unique pop-up and adaptive reuse projects. In partnership with the City of Mesa, Arizona Government and RAILmesa: Retail, Arts, Innovation & Livability, this tour shines a light on the temporary use, new retail and restaurants, affordable housing, creative space, and mixed-use developments that will shape the next wave of investment for this vital, historic corridor."
___________________________________________________________________________________ For(u)m partnered with the City of Mesa and RAILMesa for a tour of Mesa's light rail corridor, covering commercial reuse, hospitality, affordable housing, and arts Equitable Development on the Mesa Light Rail
For(u)m Showcases Equitable, Cross-Sector Development "On the Line" In Mesa (Please note that images inserted into the text were captured by your MesaZona blogger)
Christian Hulme, an on-site coordinator for Community Development
Partners, providing an overview of this new downtown project
Last month, For(u)m continued its exploration of development corridors across the Valley, this time moving to the more recent Mesa light rail extension. In partnership with the City of Mesa and RAILMesa, this focused bus tour brought together current Mesa business owners and property owners, prospective developers, real estate brokers, local advocates, and nonprofit organizations to explore the diversity of projects completed and in progress in the area, and how their presence paves the way for what is certain to come.
The tour opened with an exploration of Habitat Metro's newest proposal in partnership with Bob Worsley and Kent Lyons, adaptively reusing a midcentury one-story bank building while adding 15-stories of multifamily residential and hotel units in Mesa's historic district, atop a parking lotto the building's south. Blogger Note: Image to the right is part of the bus tour group listening to W. Tim Sprague inform them about a 15-story 75-room hotel and 75 'above-market rate' apartments to the Drew Street Parking. Another proposal-The GRID Project by a group called M.U.R.AL.- for units above parking lots for 300 W Main Street was also proposed.
Main Street view of both phases of equitable affordable
inclusive and attainable workforce housing, ahead of the
Valley Metro Light Rail extension west to Gilbert Road
From there, guests shuttled past the under-construction artist-affordable housing at Mesa Artspace Lofts, before landing at El Rancho Del Sol. Phase two of Rancho Del Arte is another family affordable and attainable housing development incorporating groundfloor mixed-use space housing several supportive nonprofits, including an eventual shared commercial kitchen managed by Fuerza Local.
“It’s a matter of having the right architect, the right designers, the right community partners to make these kinds of projects work.”
— Connor Descheemaker, Community Planning Coordinator, Local First Arizona _____________________________________________________________________
Next, the tour flipped westward, for a stop at the light rail's original "end of the line" near Dobson Rd., where we heard from Steven Diep of Mekong Plaza, who has built an unparalleled center of Asian commerce in a former Target, alongside
Neil Calfee of Calfee Group, currently redeveloping a former park and ride into a multi-phase, mixed-use development.
Routing returned attendees downtown, for a stop at Starmar Investments' Sliver Lot, where the developers have activated a vacant lot for monthly movies, fundraisers, and other programming.
Adjacent to the site, the group owns three retail suites on Main Street, two of which are currently undergoing the City of Mesa's facade improvement program, returning these historic storefronts to their original form--all are currently seeking long-term, local tenants. Finally, a brief walk brought the tour to a close at the veteran-owned Cider Corps, the state's first cider brewery, housed in another adaptively-reused building, where guests heard from the brewery's founder, Josh Duren, about his role in Mesa's new walkable brewery district, just blocks from Oro and Desert Eagle Brewing. For a full recap, check below for a video of the entire tour, including comments from attendees and organizers:
Last month, the For(u)m continued its exploration of development corridors across the Valley, this time moving to the more recent Mesa light rail extension.
At the beginning of October, For(u)m was proud to partner with the architecture firm Jones Studio to showcase perhaps its most ambitious design project, the adaptive reuse of the historic Monroe Abbey.
EQ Properties' newest project located in the Garfield residential neighborhood utilizes historic buildings filled entirely with hand-chosen local tenants.
In seven short years, The Ranch Mine has moved to define itself as one of the most iconic and acclaimed architecture firms in the Valley. Its latest infill home, Canal House, is already garnering international attention.
In the last few months, LFA For(u)m has added a slew of exciting new members, each filling a unique niche in the local supply chain--from developers to real estate brokers to design-build firms to concrete specialists. Here's a taste of what each brings to the table.
Art, adaptive reuse, and placemaking combined forces for a lively poolside mixer at one of Habitat Metro's latest development projects, the marquee Found:RE Hotel in downtown Phoenix.
Local First Arizona is proud to sponsor the annual Arizona State Historic Preservation Conference, featuring For(u)m program members Venue Projects and Joel Contreras Design.
Local First Arizona's For(u)m program partnered with LISC Phoenix and the City of Phoenix to present a tour of the Camelback Light Rail Corridor in uptown Phoenix, between Central and 19th avenues along Camelback Road--highlighting its successes in revitalization and identity-building, and opportunities for future growth and development.
In her podcast, Kimber discusses her challenges in being a local business owner, what led her to founding Local First Arizona, how placemaking is critical to healthy communities, and her passion for Arizona.
LFA For(u)m returns for 2017 with revamped memberships, programming, and an ever-expanding commitment to a responsible built environment in the Valley.
Vintage Partners has repositioned itself in the development world through thoughtful, neighborhood-based adaptive reuse projects, centered around the marquee Uptown Plaza, first constructed in 1955. With the locally-owned AJ’s grocery store as a lasting anchor, Vintage transformed its context to welcome such independent highlights as Muse Apparel, Local Nomad, R&R Surplus, Zookz, Manor Shoes, and Flower Child, re-rooting the Plaza to place.
Local First Arizona For(u)m zeroes in on the specific issues that come to light in building an equitable, walkable, sustainable Valley. For its Fall slate of programming, For(u)m engages with the production of workforce housing, the entitlement process, and historic preservation, and their attendant barriers and openings in meeting the scale of this housing crisis.
The tour opened with an exploration of Habitat Metro's newest proposal in partnership with Bob Worsley and Kent Lyons, adaptively reusing a midcentury one-story bank building while adding 15-stories of multifamily residential and hotel units in Mesa's historic district, atop a parking lotto the building's south. 
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