If it seems like a lot of industrial buildings have been going up in southeast Mesa the last few years, your eyes are not deceiving you: the region is one
Like spring flowers popping up in gardens and lots around town, what can be called âIndustrial Mesaâ is in bloom.
In the southeastern corner of the city, big chunks of land remain undeveloped â but not for long.
Development plans zipped through approval phases for multiple projects that will throw up huge warehouses and other industrial buildings.
Mayor John Giles, Economic Development Director William Jabjiniak and others have joked about âlanding some big fishâ with recent deals.
Google, the prized marlin, has been hard to reel in.
Earlier this year, Jabjiniak said he expected Google to break down on a massive campus near Sossaman and Elliot road this spring.
If this was a movie shoot, it might be âtake 17.â
Back in the mid-1980s, the City of Mesa was so eager to flip a single-family neighborhood into a commercial development that it used eminent domain to forcefully purchase the properties, clearing the way for an eagerly-anticipated resort, conference and water park project.Â
Thirty-five years later ⦠nada.
Near the busy corner of Mesa and University drives, a chunk of ugly, dirt lots sit behind the office of Maricopa Adult Probation as the land patiently waits for someone to take it out of development jail.Â
The water park was dunked, other ideas ranged from pop flies to strikeouts. So, 25 acres of prime, city-owned land remain a blank canvas waiting for an idea.
As bulldozer wheels begin churning on the slow-motion construction of State Route 24, commercial and residential developers are lining up near the new stretch of highway.
As Economic Development Director William Jabjiniak put it, âThereâs a whole bunch of things going on in southeast Mesa.â
The proposed extension of SR24 runs smack through the Cadence at Gateway development, planned for 3,500-plus homes on 465 acres. The developer is asking for a change from commercial zoning to residential in a 20-acre section of the development near Ray and Crimson roads.
Some residents of Cadence at Gatewayâs eastern neighbor, the massive Eastmark development on 3,200 acres, are furious over a new request for more homes.
The bad news: Mesa development continues.
City leaders have their eyes on both the jobs and challenges new projects are bringing to Mesa.Â
At a recent Economic Development Board meeting, City Manager Chris Brady said the cityâs economic development âis mostly based upon infrastructure and the workforce.â
While development means jobs, it is also accelerating at a pace that is âpushing us to our limits.â
The intense growth in the eastern part of the city can deflect from needed improvements elsewhere, he noted.
And, he stressed the fairness factor: âIt is an important balancing act to meet the demands of developers who donât want to spend money on infrastructure,â Brady said. âWe are trying to encourage that they need to be playing a part in this too.â