By Roland Murphy for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
A new, 85KSF speculative industrial building will be going up at Falcon Field in Mesa.
According to developer Majestic Realty Co.’s proposal narrative, “The project will be a state of the art, +/-85KSF industrial building located at the NWC of Higley and Ingram. The building will be multi-tenant which will give Majestic the flexibility to target users from various industries. Given the location, we believe this project will be leased to multiple high-tech, manufacturing users that will provide great jobs and wages to the City of Mesa.”
The site is located south of McKellips Road on the west side of Higley Road on a currently vacant parcel. The building will be 40-feet in height with concrete tilt construction. Colors will be desert-appropriate cream with grey accents, and entrances will feature a stone veneer accenting the columns.
The existing land is zoned LI – Limited Industrial and allows manufacturing and processing, warehousing and distribution, among other, related uses. Majestic intends the building to be used for general warehouse inventory purposes. A shipping and receiving area, as well as a small portion dedicated to office spaces (8.5KSF total) for user companies will likely be included. However, given that the project is speculative and no tenant is in place yet, final use and configuration has not yet been determined, according to the submittal.
The initial submission includes space breakdowns for up to four tenants, each with an office area, and clear heights of 32 feet at the first column.
Mesa Planning and Zoning staff found the proposal in keeping with the city’s General Plan and issued approval with minor conditions, including submittal of a filing to the Federal Aviation Administration, “to determine any effect to navigable airspace (or) air navigation facilities,” given the site’s proximity to Falcon Field.
As part of the approval process, 137 citizens and area organizations were contacted, and a neighborhood meeting was held at the Falcon Field Airport Terminal in May. Only one person, representing an area homeowner’s association, attended, and she expressed her support for the project.
In estimating the economic impact of the proposed development, Majestic’s calculations call for approximately 175 new jobs to be added when the $7.85M project is completed and the facility becomes occupied and operational.
Calls to the Mesa Office of Economic Development and to Majestic for comment on the project were not returned by press time.