More tidbits on the Fiesta Towers project:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl....html#comments
Condos project dumps Fiesta Towers name for Aqua Terra
Gary Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 18, 2007 09:03 AM
Even as Mesa ramps up efforts to revive the Fiesta Mall area, a key project there has abandoned the "Fiesta" brand.
The Fiesta Lofts condominiums, which in a more robust real estate market were to have been a high-rise project called Fiesta Towers, are now being called Aqua Terra.
The complex still will have more than 400 luxury condos, and it still will offer more than 45,000 square feet of retail space.
But it won't carry the Fiesta name, despite Mesa's efforts to set the area apart as a distinct place to live and work.
City Manager Chris Brady, while acknowledging companies may name their projects as they wish, said Mesa thinks the Fiesta moniker can pay off.
"We certainly think there's some great value to that Fiesta name," Brady said. "It's been many years since it's been there. We're going to do everything we can to build on that concept."
As for Aqua Terra, Brady said, "At the end of the day for us what will be successful is that they have significant occupancy and that that whole area is vibrant. . . . If they can be successful with that name, we'll be happy."
Tom Roszak, the Chicago-area architect who is developing Aqua Terra southeast of the Bank of America tower, could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Mesa is pressing ahead with a $250,000 marketing and branding program for the district, the next step of which takes place Tuesday.
The city and PMC Consulting will host what they're calling a community design workshop at the Dobson branch library. It will provide an update on recent developments in the area and allow people to weigh in on how it might eventually look.
City Council members and the consulting firm have agreed that businesses won't be forced to comply with whatever design standards emerge from the process.
Shelly Allen, the city's interim economic development director, said several more community workshops will follow.
The district, which runs from Dobson to Extension roads and the U.S.60 to Southern Avenue, has been an economic mixed bag of late. Its most famous negative prototype is the failed Fiesta Village strip mall at the northwestern corner of Alma School Road and Southern Avenue whose last tenant, K-Momo clothing, has now left the building.
On the bright side are projects such as Aqua Terra, a Children's Tower at Banner Desert Medical Center, planned renovations at Fiesta Mall, expansion of Mesa Community College and a $6 million overhaul of the Hilton hotel