By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
Full disclosure: When I first moved to Arizona, my first apartment was less than half a mile from Fiesta Village. Between when I first arrived in 1994 until I moved across the Valley in 2000, I watched the neighborhood go from a pleasant mix of students and young professionals to an increasingly desolate wasteland with entire developments fenced off behind chain link, major decreases in every quality of life indicator, and ever-climbing rates of both vacancy and crime.
Fiesta Village didn’t just fall. It plummeted.
Over the last plus-or-minus 25 years, there have been multiple plans and efforts to revitalize the area around Southern Avenue and Alma School Road—some modest, some grandiose, nearly all doomed (or at least highly impeded) by a host of different circumstances. It was easy—and often justified—to view each new plan with cynical skepticism.
Two recent news reports, however, indicate it may finally be time to set that long-conditioned skepticism aside and actually view the potential around Fiesta Village with a sense of optimism and hope.
Modest Gains Building Momentum
A March 13 Mesa Tribune article detailed the fall of Fiesta Village, the efforts at revitalization over the years and the latest set of plans and projects that might actually bear fruit in turning the area around.
According to the article, four small commercial projects at the NWC of Southern and Alma School—consisting of a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru, a second drive-thru, a coffee shop and a bank—are in various stages of planning and approval.
The Landing at Fiesta Village, a 220-unit apartment community by P.B. Bell that was first reported by AZBEX five years ago, completed construction in last December after multiple starts and stops. (AZBEX; March 16, 2018)
Fiesta Village owner W.M. Grace Company and the City of Mesa negotiated for years over the future of the site once wrapped in chain-link fencing as it fell more and more deeply into disrepair and blight. City officials even explored condemning and razing the site in 2009.
Grace finally razed the site in 2020, freeing up the development of The Landing with developer P.B. Bell and Rockpoint Group, the new owner of the multifamily portion.
Grace retained ownership of the commercially designated portion of the site where the new developments are planned. A 2019 development agreement between Grace and the City requires pedestrian-friendly features throughout the commercial space.
Across from Fiesta Village, Anton DevCo has plans for Anton Mesa, a five-story, 550-unit apartment community that will be built just south of the city’s tallest structure—the Financial Plaza office building. Anton Mesa will replace the Mesa Fiesta Center, which is currently vacant save for one occupant, a charity organization that will relocate to another nearby location.
The likely cornerstone as to whether revitalization will actually take hold as a cohesive force will be a redevelopment of Fiesta Mall. Finances, timing and ownership conflict have laid waste to multiple plans for the former retail power center over the years.
Now, however, the ownership is down to just two entities: Verde Investments and Diversified Partners. Verde has spent years acquiring all the anchor store parcels, and Mesa Vice Mayor Francisco Heredia told the Tribune the company has reached an agreement with Diversified to buy the interior of the mall. According to Heredia, the two are finalizing paperwork on the deal.
Assuming the sale takes place, he said that will make it much easier for talks between the City and the owner to engage in substantive talks about redevelopment for the mall.
According to a March 10 report on 12News.com, Verde has submitted plans to the City requesting a review of its proposed development of a mixed-use master plan on the site.
Documents published on the 12News website include the pre-application narrative, which begins, “The purpose of this request is to seek initial feedback for a proposed rezoning to Infill Development District- Two (“ID-2”) and establish an Infill Incentive Plan (the “Infill Plan”) for Fiesta Mall (the “Site”).”
According to the narrative, Verde has hired Nelsen Partners as the project design firm, citing the company’s involvement with the ongoing Paradise Valley Mall redevelopment as one qualification.
The narrative says the existing mall would be demolished to make way for “a horizontal mixture of uses with an established block system to promote pedestrian activity.”
Under the proposed development standards, buildings would have a maximum height of 120 feet, and maximum lot coverage would be set at 80%. Density would permit up to a maximum of 4,000 residential units.
The plan calls for a mix of four distinct character areas, some of which overlap and “cross-hatch.” The planned areas are:
- Green Space,
- Commercial,
- Multifamily and
- Flex-office.
Both Heredia and Mayor John Giles declined to offer additional specifics about the plan. Giles, however, said the site is “special” and “strategic” and expressed a strong degree of confidence redevelopment will happen. He told 12News, “I’m very confident. I mean, I can’t get into the details, but there are a lot of good ideas that are already being floated and some I think have real potential.”
Assuming Mayor Giles is right, and the stars finally align after decades of cloudy days, maybe, just maybe, it might be time to hold out a little hope.
