Southeast Valley Development News

[azsunsurfer]

I feel like this is the same person who keeps popping up in Mesa every couple of years to propose another "surf" or "rapids" themed water park......

http://azbex.com/project-wants-mesa-...ome-surf-city/

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by azsunsurfer

I feel like this is the same person who keeps popping up in Mesa every couple of years to propose another "surf" or "rapids" themed water park......

http://azbex.com/project-wants-mesa-...ome-surf-city/

Yeah, there has to be an inverse relationship between how much someone pimps their dream project in local media and how likely it is to be built.

[muertecaza]

Couple pictures from the few active projects in Mesa:

Grid - there is some vertical construction, which is a great milestone. I still doubt for some reason that it will be fully built out. But that's probably just me; I hope all goes well.





Grove - the apartments by the LDS temple are nearing completion, and looking pretty good. Sorry they aren't the best pictures, hard to get a good angle.





ASU building:

[nickw252]

Mesa to be home to largest privately-owned multisport facility in the country

Construction is set to begin on a humongous sports facility in the Southeast Valley.

Legacy Cares Inc., an Arizona based nonprofit organization, closed last week with boutique investment bank Ziegler on $250.77 million financing to build the family sports and entertainment complex in southeast Mesa.

The development, which will be called Legacy Sports Park, covers 320 acres at Ellsworth and Pecos, just east of Mesa Gateway Airport on the former General Motors Proving Ground. It will be the largest privately owned facility of its type in the country and is slated to open in January 2022.

The huge project has been in the works for years. There were multiple efforts to get some taxpayer money from Mesa residents to build a youth sports megacomplex, with a ballot initiative voted down in 2018. Father and son duo Randy and Chad Miller have been proposing a facility like this for some time. The group was finally able to secure enough private funding to make it happen.

Legacy Sports Park will include both indoor and outdoor facilities with dozens of fields and courts for nearly any sport imaginable: Some of the highlights include:

• Multifield soccer complex that includes 23 soccer fields with the ability to expand to 50
• A soccer stadium-type expanded field with an approximately 10,000-person seating capacity
• One auxiliary turf field with an approximately 5,000-person seating capacity
• An additional soccer field designated as a soccer-based performance training center
• 10 softball/youth baseball fields including an expanded stadium field
• 13 sand volleyball/sand soccer courts with a stadium court
• A pickleball complex consisting of 40 pickleball courts, one of which will be a stadium court
• An obstacle course racing compound with zip lines, a 12-lane batting cage training center
• Outdoor amphitheater with an approximately 1,000-person seating capacity
• An eSports video gaming/competition center, and space allocated for a track & field
• 16 NBA sized basketball courts
• 60 indoor volleyball courts
• Cheer, dance and gymnastics facility
• A world class health, fitness, wellness clinic

The sports complex is supposed to be home to local, regional, state, national and international sporting competitions, as well as conventions, concerts and other large gatherings. Legacy claimed in a statement that the complex will "create over 1,500 jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic impact back to the surrounding community. The park is expected to attract over three million visitors annually."

Helping the Millers develop and run the project is former decathlete and Olympic gold medalist Dan O’Brien. O’Brien will serve as the director of performance training at Legacy Park.

The Legacy Sports Park will be operated by Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, which is one of the largest venue management and event programming companies, founded by high-profile executives Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff. Oak View Group operates and manages sports parks, arenas, theaters, convention centers, and amphitheaters throughout the U.S.

Oak View will be responsible for securing a naming rights partner and other sponsorship opportunities for the complex and its separate venues.

Tempe’s Waltz Construction is on board to be the general contractor for the project and it was designed by Icon Architecture Group.

“This project will transform the youth sports and family entertainment industry across the United States,” Chad Miller, CEO of Legacy Sports USA, said in a statement. “Legacy Park is not just a sports complex, but a true family entertainment center with dining options, athletic apparel shops, as well as venues for concerts and various artistic events. A facility such as this is long overdue in the Arizona market.”

[combusean]

By land area, that's probably the largest privately-owned development in the incorporated county.

Good for them. Was curious about their swimming opportunities...

[muertecaza]

Looks like a new apartment development is about ready to start construction. This one has been on the boards for a while, and apparently had some electrical relocation issues that were holding it up that the developer has now worked through with the city.

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ne...5b2dda0b4.html

[DesertRay]

Lantana Hall is finally open on the Polytechnic Campus. Looks great to me.

[combusean]

In West Mesa, the long decaying Dobson Ranch Inn and Fiesta Village are no more. A few hundred apartments in between the two, and the snail's pace of Fiesta Mall's redevelopment continues with a bright spot.

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ne...60362f5fd.html

[Classical in Phoenix]

Mesa's Asian District is getting a little bigger.

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ne...c4e809e00.html

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by Classical in Phoenix

Mesa's Asian District is getting a little bigger.

https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ne...c4e809e00.html

Nice to see another dirt lot bite the dust. Sounds like it's this one:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4122.../data=!3m1!1e3

I would love to see some deliberate strides from Mesa to encourage the Asian District. As the article says there's no real deliberate city policy, it's just been a natural, self-selective grouping. I don't know what it could or should be, but for instance trying to expand the district into the mostly unused Park'n Ride for the Dobson light rail station seems like it would make sense.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by muertecaza

Nice to see another dirt lot bite the dust. Sounds like it's this one:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.4122.../data=!3m1!1e3

I would love to see some deliberate strides from Mesa to encourage the Asian District. As the article says there's no real deliberate city policy, it's just been a natural, self-selective grouping. I don't know what it could or should be, but for instance trying to expand the district into the mostly unused Park'n Ride for the Dobson light rail station seems like it would make sense.

This is great news. The City of Mesa seemed to be acknowledging its Asian district in early 2020. There was a big night market event held there with city support. Then the pandemic put everything on hold. I hope the effort will resume as COVID fades. I remember hearing about a developer's big plans for the park-and-ride about three or four years ago. I guess those fell through.

[muertecaza]

Couple Mesa projects:

The Grove by the LDS temple:



The Grid:

[combusean]

I like how the Grove looks like a normal building and doesn't go all out on gaudy colors or even ugly beige, and its facade looks normal without so much overt articulation. It'll age well unlike so much of the schlock in Tempe and Phoenix.

[azsunsurfer]

https://azbigmedia.com/real-estate/s...nd-this-month/

I'll believe it when I see it....

[Classical in Phoenix]

The Mesa Tower just sold for $39.5M.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...ource=facebook

[xymox]

Originally Posted by Classical in Phoenix

The Mesa Tower just sold for $39.5M.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...ource=facebook

I’m shocked its 84% leased - I didn’t realize there was that much demand for office space in the immediate area.

It’s such an oddity out there by itself. Other plans to build more towers around it never seem to work out. Perhaps someday?

[combusean]

I did a bit of research on the tower.
- It was narrowly approved amidst traffic concerns and the impact on Downtown Mesa. - - It was built by Conley Wolfswinkel and originally proposed to be 12 stories.
- The neon came later in construction as part of a contentious 90 day trial and were flicked on November 11, 1986, shortly after the tower's opening. Republic pundit Hardy Price called the lighting "garish" and "grotesque." Neighbors called it an "asset," "welcome sight," "monstrosity," and "another Las Vegas." It received a 3-year approval after the trial.
- The restaurant complex to the south was built by the same developer and supposed to have an 1890s feel
- Coury Development proposed a twin 15-story tower complex on Alma School a quarter mile north but withdrew it for traffic. They built the 8 story Hilton nearby which was supposed to have a 5-6 story offie building in its first phase and a 17 story building in its second but that was either voted down or delayed until street improvements. The Western Savings Financial Plaza was to be the only tower in the development although there although the developer owned the 160 acre quarter section.
- Around the time of construction, Fiesta Mall proposed a 35% expansion including a fifth anchor but was whittled down to 18% and denied.

[Classical in Phoenix]

Very interesting, thanks for the work.

[azsunsurfer]

I went by the GRID a few times this past week in Mesa. It appears to have stalled? They are still on the second floor of the foundation structure but it seems that all the equipment has been removed from the site and no progress has been made on any of the other site work. I've also noticed no crews there during the day time....

[muertecaza]

Apparently it's slightly old news, but another brewery is coming to downtown Mesa, this time it's Beer Research Institute opening an arcade bar.

https://www.mesaaz.gov/Home/Componen...7/16?locale=en

It will be in a brick building at Main Street and Robson, right next to where a Pedal Haus is also planned, and across the street from Oro and Cider Corps. I noticed it today riding by with a sign in the window.