2022 Mesa Visitors Guide

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Downtown Mesa:
The Valley’s
Urban Hot Spot
Downtown Mesa is growing by
leaps and bounds. And not just in
size (though that’s true, too). Its
evolution can best be tracked by its
accumulation of the hallmarks of
every great city: accessible public
transportation, dynamic dining,
metropolitan living, community parks,
nightlife, higher education, and an arts
and culture hub.
“The phenomenal growth in Downtown
Mesa has been nothing short of
amazing,” notes City of Mesa Vice
Mayor Jenn Duff. “We have a diverse
mix of new restaurants, bars, coffee
houses and other small businesses
that have recently opened — and many
more that plan to open soon.”
A DESTINATION
TRANSFORMED
Mesa started as a quaint agricultural
town in the 1870s. It morphed into
a lively commercial center in the
early 1900s, then a popular postwar
community for returning soldiers
and their families in the 1950s. But
it downshifted into a forgotten
destination in the '70s.
Now, thanks to a well-executed
strategy called the Central Main Plan,
Downtown Mesa is celebrating a muchdeserved
rebirth as one of the most
energetic and exciting city centers
in the Greater Phoenix metro area.
Approved by the Mesa City Council in
2012, the Central Main Plan is a multipronged
approach to building a viable
and vibrant downtown.
Other downtowns might boast one
signature trademark — an abundance
of restaurants, for example, or a
variety of art galleries. Mesa’s city
core showcases it all. And its dining,
nightlife, shopping, arts, education, and
lifestyle amenities are attracting even
more growth.
Take The Grove on Main. The new livework-play
complex brings 243 modern
housing units and 8,000 square feet
of retail space to Downtown. Upscale
projects like Eco Mesa, a high-end
sustainable-living community situated
Downtown, recently broke ground and
the new Commons of Mesa complex
was announced by one of the area’s
largest developers.
Since residents of these new units
need things to do and places to
eat, enter the recently opened
entertainment venues Downtown
Underground and Level 1 Arcade,
and new restaurants like cult-favorite
Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. Even
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints designed a new visitors’
center to welcome the influx of people
as part of its recent Mesa Arizona
Temple renovation.
A decade after the adoption of the
Central Main Plan, Downtown Mesa’s
robust offerings have transformed the
cityscape. Along Main Street the Valley
Metro Light Rail trundles by. It takes
folks from all over the Valley to Mesa
Arts Center, a nationally acclaimed
performing and visual arts complex —
the largest in the Southwest. Soon it
will shuttle Arizona State University
students from the Tempe campus to
Mesa’s Digital Innovation District:
ASU @ Mesa City Center. The $75
million development offers programs
from the Herberger Institute for Design
and the Arts; think courses on digital
and sensory technology, experiential
design, gaming, media arts, and film
production from the Sidney Poitier New
American Film School. The campus’
two-acre Plaza @ Mesa City Center
will serve as a gathering place for
collaborations among students, the
community and the industry.
Jeff McVay, the city’s Downtown
Transformation Manager, sums up
Mesa’s resurgence best.
“Downtown Mesa is the heart of
the third largest city in Arizona,”
he says. “Among a uniquely local
retail, restaurant and entertainment
environment, Downtown is also home
to the technologies of tomorrow, where
innovation and entrepreneurship are
encouraged and supported. And with
$500 million in public and private
investment bringing 1,500 new dwelling
units, a hyper-local foodie scene and
ASU’s Digital Futures Laboratory and
the film school, Downtown Mesa is just
getting started.”
visitmesa.com
2022 Visitors Guide | Destination Downtown | 35