Rehab of Mesa's Fiesta District begins

by Gary Nelson - Jun. 26, 2012 10:01 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

Mesa's Fiesta District might as well be the Chernobyl of Valley retail areas.

With the exception of Fiesta Mall itself, most of the centers near Alma School Road and Southern Avenue are either dead or nearly so, relics of a boom that flickered and then died as shoppers fled to newer, glitzier venues.

Mesa has fought for years to revive the area, though nobody at City Hall thinks it ever will return as a retail mecca. The thinking now is urban mixed-use, with new buildings hewing to design standards that Mesa laid down several years ago but seldom used.

Now, the city itself is stepping up to lead the way.

It broke ground Tuesday for an ultramodern police substation that not only will put people in the neighborhood but, the city hopes, showcase the neighborhood's potential.

The site, a barren patch of dirt southeast of the Bank of America tower, will be teeming with construction workers for the next year.

"This is a tremendous step in our effort to improve the Fiesta District," said Councilman Dennis Kavanaugh, who represents the area. "We see the Fiesta District on the road to revitalization."

That a police station would occupy the site was the last thing anyone dreamed of six years ago.

Back then, a Chicago developer was wowing City Hall with promises of a glitzy high-rise called Fiesta Towers, two buildings of 19 stories each and two with 10 stories, that would transform southwest Mesa.

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Rehab of Mesa's Fiesta District begins