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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Inside This Week
Up to 4K apartments could replace Fiesta Mall BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
NEWS..................... 9 A nonprofit finds new digs for a Buckhorn Baths feline colony.
COMMUNITY ..... 17 2 women plan event for their history of the Mesa Easter Pageant.
Sunday, March 19, 2023
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
M
esa did not have to wait long to see what the newly consolidated ownership of Fiesta Mall wants to do with the long-dormant mall. Now that it is apparently down to just one owner, plans submitted earlier this month to the city show that Verde Investments propose
to level the vacant and graffitied mall buildings and transform the area into a mixed use live-work-play development. New roadways would be created through the 80-acre site to connect a complex of retail, entertainment, apartments and office space. The design limits in Verde’s proposal speak to the potential intensity of the new development: A cap of 4,000 residential units on the site and a maximum building height of 120
SE Mesa intersection getting 9 drive-thrus
feet, or about 12 stories. The basic idea is not unlike what is underway for other mall redevelopment projects in Arizona, including at the former Paradise Valley Mall site, now a mixed-use development called “PV” currently under construction. A website for PV describes the new development as a “mecca of dining, entertainment
see MALL page 3
Dead Teens Remembered
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER Tribune Staff Writer
GET OUT ............. 27 Mesa bassoonist is part of regional symphony's talent pool. COMMUNITY .............................. 17 BUSINESS ................................... 21 OPINION ..................................... 24 SPORTS ...................................... 26 GET OUT ...................................... 27 CLASSIFIED ............................... 31 ZONE 1
D
istrict 6 in southeast Mesa has grown rapidly in recent years and residents crave commercial amenities for dining, nightlife and so-called “third spaces” like coffee shops for working outside the home or just hanging out. The relative lack of these types of commercial places was an issue in last year’s District 6 city council race, with both candidates for the seat promising to help the district’s retail and cultural amenities catch up with its residential and industrial might. At one key intersection, Elliot and Ellsworth roads, the
see ELLIOT page 6
Though hammered by recent rains, a memorial still remains for 17-year-old Sitlalli Avelar and 15-year-old Kamryn Meyers near 5834 East Southern Avenue in Mesa where the two runaways were found dead in January. The Medical Examiner’s opinion on how they met their untimely death was released last week. See the story on page 8. (Josh Ortega/Tribune Staff)
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