mesazona.blogspot.com) is a localized Mesa, Arizona blog created by local advocate and blogger Tim Mello. 
The history here on this infamous site - and all the problems - simply cannot be ignored now. . . Jeff McVay, the city's so-called "Director of Downtown Transformation" failed miserably two years wasting time-and-money on citizen input sessions that got nowhere...
Press Release from the City of Mesa Newsroom:
Neighborhood Meetings for Public Input for Transform 17
Mesa residents will be able to provide input on the proposed plans for Transform 17. The project includes a mixed-use neighborhood of residential, office and community retail at the southwest corner of Mesa Drive and University Drive.
The proposal from Miravista Holdings uses a development block approach consisting of eight development blocks. The initial phase includes two development blocks, street realignment, streetscape improvements and construction of a linear park along 2nd Street between Pasadena and Pomeroy.
City Council is expected to consider zoning issues, a purchase agreement and development agreement in late August.
Contact: Kevin Christopher
(480) 644-4699
kevin.christopher@mesaaz.gov
2022
STIGMATIZED INFAMOUS SITE 17: A Relic of Downtown Bulldozing + Bad Urban Land-Use Planning
However it came to be known as The Mesa Verde Resort DebacleThis public statement made last year:
"The City of Mesa wishes to transform 27 acres of city-owned land at the SWC of University and Mesa Drive into 'a vibrant and cohesive urban mixed-use project' and is requesting a partner to help with that vision . . ."
Can city boondoggle be a downtown boon?
"Mesa City Council hopes this is the year to finally turn a downtown boondoggle into a boon for downtown. Council recently heard the latest development plan for 27 acres of city-owned land just north of Main Street near Phoenix Marriott Mesa that Mesa acquired through eminent domain, leveling 63 homes at a taxpayer cost of $6 million.
BLOGGER INSERT >
October 2023
INSERT: Streaming video upload of the actual City Council Study Session
INSERT: Excerpt from earlier post
WHAT HAPPENED?
". . . On May 6, the City of Mesa issued a Request for Qualifications for a developer to help redevelop the currently vacant Opportunity Zone site, also known as Transform 17 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>If Mesa succeeds in bringing the long-dreamed redevelopment into reality with the city’s latest partner on the project, Miravista Holdings, it would make the third decade the charm for a prime piece of real estate that has long sat vacant.
- The city started purchasing property at the southwest corner Mesa and University Drives in 1996 and eventually acquired homes through eminent domain in order to make way for a 12-story water-park resort proposed by a Canadian developer.
- But the planned Mesa Verde water resort died after the developer failed to secure funding.
- Since then, city planners have envisioned different types of projects for Site 17, as it’s been known, and hoped one developer after another would take up the mantle; but those deals all fell through. . .city planners are hoping 2022 is the year an agreement with a developer leads to shovels in the ground.
> Last year, the city signed a nine-month “exclusive dealings agreement” with Miravista Holdings to create a master plan for the parcel, which commands a critical location that is in walking distance from downtown attractions, light rail and the Arizona State University campus.
> Officials appeared cautiously optimistic that the multi-phase, mixed use development concocted by Miravista and architectural firm Gensler will come to fruition and keep the redevelopment project only on the drawing board for a fourth decade. . .
Downtown Transformation Manager Jeff McVay said the city has extended its memorandum of understanding with Miravista to continue working on the plan with the goal of signing a development agreement by Aug. 29.. . .The plan is divided into eight sections that can be developed in any order after the initial phase.
- “The remaining blocks have the flexibility to be developed in partnership with you as opportunities arise, as the market dictates,” Ayers said. “Really, the city has the opportunity to control that process for the most part.”
- . .If the city signs a deal with Miravista in August, the company would be required to purchase the first two blocks of land within a year of council approval and complete construction within two years of purchase. . .
TWO QUOTATIONS ARE INCLUDED:
City Manager Chris Brady “We’ve always thought of this site as a support and complement in strengthening downtown. The idea is we didn’t want this to compete with what’s already downtown, . .“Downtowns, to be successful, need to have that residential vibe, that 24-hour vibe, not just during the workday.”
Hizzoner the Mayor (Giles put it more bluntly): “What downtown needs is people,” . . .“I have been sitting in this room talking about this piece of property since the 1990s, . .I’m very anxious to see a shovel go in the ground.”
> Miravista plans two neighborhood information meetings next month to share details of the plan. It will hold an in-person meeting Thursday, April 7, and a virtual meeting Monday, April 4. Miravista said notification letters went out to neighbors at the end of last week.
. . Besides describing the master plan, McVay also sketched out the outlines of a development agreement with Miravista for council members.
> Miravista would have to follow timelines for getting the first phase done, and also set aside money for the city to do “restoration” if the project fails for some reason.
> The city, for its part, would sweeten the deal for Miravista by giving it the opportunity to significantly offset the cost of the land.
> The city would agree to reimburse Miravista up to 75% of the land purchase price for what appear to be modest public improvements in the master plan, such as a “linear park” along the southern edge of the property on 2nd Street, and “enhanced streetscape improvements” to Hibbert and 2nd Street.
- The linear park would be the beginning of a “connected network of shaded space” through the development, Ayers said.
> The city would also agree to consider temporary tax waivers on certain development blocks within the master plan deemed to offer particular public benefits. The state allows cities to waive property taxes for up to eight years for developments located in a designated Central Business District that meet other specified criteria.
Council members appeared satisfied that Miravista’s plan has the potential to inject energy into downtown Mesa, but the optimism was tempered by caution, knowing how many false starts the site has seen. . ."
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11 May 2021
Holey Holdings! Sizzle or Fizzle
> Scott Smith, who served as Mesa’s mayor 2008-14, believed Site 17 eventually would find its own solution.
In a 2013 interview, Smith said the city – having already waited that long – was willing to wait a while longer.
“We’re going to let things happen organically,” Smith said.
He figured the arrival of light rail in downtown Mesa in 2015 would hasten the process, and suggested the acreage might become home to one or more of the colleges that had committed to building campuses in Mesa around that time.
That didn’t happen, either.
Once billing itself the “Gem City,” Mesa has always prided itself on being a beautiful community.
When it was once a small town, it could concentrate efforts in the original square mile. . ."
At a time when farmers were establishing individual farms across the American Midwest, Joseph Smith taught that farmers should live in small organized cities where “the farmer and his family . . . will enjoy all the advantages of schools, public lectures and other meetings. His home will no longer be isolated, and his family denied the benefits of society, which has been, and always will be, the great educator of the human race; but they will enjoy the same privileges of society, and can surround their homes with the same intellectual life, the same social refinement as will be found in the home of the merchant or banker or professional man” (from B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:312, as cited in Richard H. Jackson, “The Mormon Village: Genesis and Antecedents of the City of Zion Plan,” page 230, in BYU Studies 17 [Winter 1977]: 223-240).
A funny thing is happening in many US cities
The Old Donut Hole
FUN WITH WORDS: The Doughnut/Donut Duality
It appears for illustration purposes as Downtown, even though there is no point of comparison or what is normally associated with it - Uptown.
More from HuffpostDoughnut Or Donut? The Great Spelling Debate Of Our Time
We're about to take you on a quest to discover the term's origin, and its inevitable path toward ruin. You may want to grab a doughnut for this one.
Doughnuts have become an integral part of American culture, loved for providing us with mouths full of comfort and loathed for ruining our diets. Beyond this love/hate relationship is another duality we apparently feel very passionately about: The correct spelling. Is it doughnut or donut?
How to Revitalise Cities: Doughnuts in Urban Development
NEVER WITHOUT CONTROVERSY
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