Just five years ago in preparation for a 3D Visualization study
by Corey Whittaker on the impact of light rail extending into the
downtown historic area for a Central Main Plan, a similar proposal for a
6-story mixed-use building in the adjacent BofA parking lot got nixed
When a long-time Arizona politician who's elected to public
office while at the same time acquiring a big portfolio of properties on
Main Street here in The New Urban Downtown Mesa as 'a private
developer' [who happens to be married to Utah-money family-interests],
there's bound to be questions asked about possible
conflicts-of-interest.
That is unless these schemes can "fly under-the-radar" during
months of undisclosed and behind-the-scenes meetings with city officials
and cohorts of friends in high places. There could be scandals ahead in the volatile mix.
After the rejection in November 2016 by Mesa taxpayers to
approve sales/transaction tax increases to fund a $200 Million
Pie-In-The-Sky shaky proposal to radically transform downtown into a
satellite campus for ASU that devoured downtown Tempe, preceded by
another preposterous plan the year before for City Center Urban Plaza
Mesa that was only 30%-funded, an un-named group of investors
snatched-up title to real estate with offers to purchase at $100 per
square foot properties along the path of the Valley Metro Light Rail
Central Mesa Extension into the historic downtown area two years ago
with Mayor John Giles proclaiming at the opening ceremonies "It's the Salvation Train" for
downtown economic development. But - Salvation for who? The over-riding
question remains: Is this all in the public interest?
After Giles celebrated his first full-term in office, and after
the taxpayer revolt against his $500,000+ privately-financed Public
Relations fiasco that turned into a major screw-up, plans for an ASU
satellite campus got knocked-down, million$ in investments waiting
on-the-sidelines got into quiet high-gear to seriously speculate on
their fortunes-to-be-made - one of the prime drivers of capital
inflow is Bob Worsley, who people say won't use his own money to finance
his personal and private-developer schemes and dreams.
One recently made-public proposal for what's rumored as a $40
Million project, 15 stories high with a 75-room hotel, 75
"above-market apartments, atop a 3-story parking lot and a street-level
food hall, all resting in details in an MOU to convert a free
public-parking lot deeded to the city years ago in perpetuity for free
public parking in this parcel. The plan is outlined in yellow lines
[proceed with caution]. It is now under consideration when the Mesa City
Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding at the end of June for
possible development that expires in one year.
INSERT
Back-to-the-future Fast-Forward: Game On for another ASU Public Relations Ploy two years after Mesa taxpayers REJECTED the first. Will the banks go for it this time?
Can
he 'take it to the banks' to leverage the $20M dough into his own
fortune$$$$$$ by tricking Mesa taxpayers to carry more debt burdens
on-their-backs to finance his dreams of more wealth creation for his
'friends-and-family' and undisclosed business associations????
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An aerial view shows the buildings that Caliber, The Wealth Development
Company purchased and will redevelop in Mesa. They are outlined in red.
core.”
The eight-building acquisition was purchased with the Caliber Diversified Opportunity Fund II, LP (the
“Fund”). The Fund offers accredited investors and registered investment
advisors (RIAs) direct access to invest in “middle market” U.S.
commercial real estate assets that can deliver attractive risk-adjusted
return through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.
Just six days before the unanimous city council approval, a new
corporation registration named MACDevLLC was filed and registered with
the Arizona Corporation Commission to conduct business activitities from
an address listed as the 5,369 Sq Ft residence of Bob Worley who lives
here in Mesa with his wife Christi Worsley.
The Drew Street Parking Lot is in the middle and in back of mostly
one-story and two-story historic properties fronting on Main Street, at
the bottom of the image, and just across an east-west alleyway from
Center Street to the left and MacDonald Street to the right.
Its ground area is less than one acre.
Drew Street, running down the middle, is a high-traffic school zone for public charter school Heritage Academy - historic in its own right - with frontage on the west side of Center Street.
Worsley and unknown partners previously had purchased 29-35 W Main
Street on the SEC of Drew/Main Street where it stood vacant for years
due to a possible foreclosure action.
In 2012 Corey Whittaker employed by the City of Mesa to do a 3D
Visualization for the impact of light rail into the downtown historic
area, made these images public of the study area that shows Main Street
running up in the center east on the diagonal. Directly at the center
point is the intersection of Drew Street with Main Street running to the
right side and south.
It shows 1-story and 2-story building rooftops fronting on the
south side of Main Street that have free public parking spaces for
business employees and their customers behind them in the black-topped
parking lots. The one in the center left connected to Drew Street,
comprising less than an acre in ground footprint is where Worsley wants
to site his 15-stories scheme for a hotel and apartment tower for real
estate development.
A lower height 6-story building, seen boxed-out in yellow at
center left in the image to the right in the 3D visualization next to
the historic Alhambra Hotel @ 43 S MacDonald Street, got nixed due to
the fact that it was way out-of-scale and out-of-proportion to the
desired architectural balance in this historic area.
The newest construction in the immediate area started with small
and incremental growth on First Avenue [seen to the right running up and
east] with the opening of the first downtown construction in 30 years
of 2014 Real Estate Design Award-Winning Encore on First @ 25 W 1st
Avenue, then Phase 2 Encore On First @ 47 W 1st Avenue by Mesa Housing
Associates for affordable and attainable housing, followed just last
year with the historic adaptive re-use by Venue Projects/Community
Development Partners of the old downtrodden 2-story hotel @ 43 S
MacDonald Street on the National Register of Historic Places into the
Alhambra Residence Hall for students enrolled at Benedictine University.
The Encore buildings [with a third one in-the-works for market-rate
housing at the SEC of MacDonald/1st Avenue are low-profile construction
that fit in the 3D visualizations in the Central Main Plan.
Ground-breaking on Phase3 - the new Residences on First - has for some
unexplained reasons been delayed.
Any scheme to plop down a 15-story 75-room hotel/75 'above
market-rate' luxury apartments is simply a non-conforming use that is
way out-of-scale in the Central Main Plan.
Four years ago, the 5-story Encore On First was built at a cost of about $30 Million for 81 apartments.
It's highly improbable at this point-in-time that Worsley's
Pie-In-The-Sky real estate schemes for a 15-story complex will ever
getting off-the-ground or even pass the muster and citizen/neighborhood
input for a review of his sketchy plans presented in a Memorandum of
Understanding approved unanimously by the entire Mesa City Council on
June 27, 2017. It will expire in one year. If review by the downtown
community recommends that the building height get cut-down to 8-10
stories - it might not be economically feasible to convince would-be
real estate speculators to risk millions in investments at the intended
less-than-an-acre parking lot in an active school zone.
Perhaps the speculative risk-taking might be better re-directed
to the entire city block just one block to the East on Main
Street/First Avenue and Sirrine/S Hibbert that's next to the Mesa Arts
Center, seen in the image to the left.
It has a lot to offer with a huge footprint that's probably the
most valuable almost 10-acre piece of property here now in The New Urban
Downtown Mesa.
...and it comes with a big bonus in a pre-existing 3-story parking garage owned by the city.
What was there before has disappeared with demolition work completed two weeks ago
Leaving yet another empty and open vacant parcel of land in the heart of city.
Title to the entire city block is held by StateFarm Insurance
owner and Sunbelt Holdings Chief Executive Officer John Graham, now
widely recognized most recently as the developer of Portland Park in
Phoenix.
He's hedging his bets with a shift to urban infill development
by balancing-out $230 Million in real estate land investments along the
Elliott Road Tech Corridor in East Mesa.
Mesa Elliot Technology Park Expands to 270 Acres with Land Buy
April 3, 2017
Sunbelt Investment Holdings Inc., based in San Diego, CA, acquired 67.5
acres near the corner of Ellsworth and Elliot Roads in Mesa, AZ for $11.8 million.
The buy from El Dorado Holdings Inc. of Phoenix means Sunbelt now has
270 acres for its planned, mixed-use project, Mesa Elliot Technology
Park. Sunbelt previously acquired approximately 203 acres about three
and half years ago.
Brent Moser, Mike Sutton and Brooks Griffith with Cushman &
Wakefield in Phoenix negotiated the land transaction. Meanwhile,
Cushman’s Andy Markham, Mike Haenel and Phil Haenel have the marketing
assignment. Markham said he expects to have a new site plan available
for the expanded business park shortly ....readers might note the
proximity to Eastmark is of interest in more ways than one
Link > https://www.connect.media
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Close to Mesa Arts Center appears to be the game plan for
millionaires to dive into the risk pool for real estate speculation here
in downtown Mesa - just make sure you know to Swim-with-The-Sharks and
avoid having your real schemes turn into scams.
Play hard and take a few deep breaths before taking the plunge.
Here's the proposed development site-plan from the City of Mesa looking south from Main Street at the bottom, with north-south Center Street at the far left. The Drew Street Parking is center left, outlined as the small-site footprint under consideration for an out-of-scale 15-story hotel, 75 "above market-rent' apartments with commercial/retail spaces. 
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