Big Step to Remove Mesa Eyesore, ‘Bad Juju’

Article originally posted on HERE on March 27, 2023

A plan by nonprofit Chicanos Por La Causa to transform a downtown Mesa corner – and remove a grim reminder of an eminent domain debacle – is back on track after a three-year delay.

Mesa City Council on March 20 approved a five-story mixed-use development for the northwest corner of Country Club Drive and Main Street, updating a 2019 agreement with CPLC to build 198 apartments above 20,000 square feet of retail space.

The 2.5-acre site includes the vacant Bailey’s Brakes shop, which was the focus of a lengthy court battle that won the attention of “60 Minutes” in an investigation of local governments’ abuse of eminent domain proceedings.

Council members are excited about the project because it promises to deliver market-rate housing and retail to downtown and eliminate blight on what they called the “Western gateway” to the city’s core.

Officials are also excited by the prospect of the project moving forward because it hits a sweet spot for city planners: an apartment complex that adds housing units as well as retail to the urban streetscape.

The Residences on Main project is separate from a proposed CPLC farther west on Main that encompasses the Kiva Lodge building. That project, which would raze the historic motel to make way for 90 affordable apartments, is still under discussion. 

While called the “gateway” to downtown by council, the mostly vacant corner at Country Club and Main may be better known to long-time Mesa residents for the protracted court fight that began in 2000 when the city tried to take shop owner Randy Bailey’s land by eminent domain.

The city and a private developer needed Bailey’s parcel to complete a private redevelopment project to turn the struggling corner into a commercial center anchored by an Ace Hardware store.

In 2003, Bailey prevailed in his court fight to block the sale in a battle that captured national attention as a result of journalist Mike Wallace’s investigation.

After the fight, Bailey served on a citizens’ committee that advised Mesa on downtown development. With his support, the city issued a request for proposals in 2016 to redevelop his land and the adjacent private and city-owned parcels as one large block.

Phoenix-based CPLC submitted the sole proposal and the nonprofit signed a development agreement with Mesa in 2019 to create the LEED Gold-certified mixed-use development.

At the time, City Manager Chris Brady said Residences on Main would achieve the city’s goals of bringing market-rate housing to downtown and removing “the shadows of the past on this corner.”

After purchasing the city-owned and private land in 2019, however, CPLC was not able to secure financing for the project, stalling construction and causing the organization to fall out of compliance with the agreement.

According to a staff report to council, CPLC has recently secured financing for Residences on Main and “has been actively working towards building permit approvals.”

The amended development agreement sets new timelines for construction and updates some minor details.

By the terms of the updated agreement, CPLC must begin construction by October and complete the project by 2026.

Downtown Transformation Manager Jeff McVay told council members that CPLC may start work as soon as May.

The city for its part sold CPLC city-owned land in 2019, and the development agreement also calls for the city to pay for all utility infrastructure and road improvements associated with the development.

Council members are eager to see activity on the site.

“When do we get to knock this thing over?” Councilman Scott Somers asked McVay, referring to the vacant brake shop. “It’s going to be nice to get rid of the chain link fence and the pigeon roost that’s there now.”

Mayor John Giles called the site “our entry point of downtown from our west side,” and thanked CPLC for their efforts on the redevelopment project.

Mesa has a poor track record of using eminent domain for downtown redevelopment. Another infamous redevelopment project, Site 17, employed eminent domain to complete acquisition of dozens of working-class homes in the ‘90s.

Over 35 years later, that 25-acre plot of city-owned land at University and Mesa still sits vacant following numerous failed redevelopment proposals over the decades. 

The latest, a mixed-use development proposed by Miravista Holdings, is currently stalled.

“Anything taken by eminent domain has bad juju in the ground,” downtown Councilwoman member Jenn Duff said.

The CPLC project, if it does finally come to completion, may help heal the scar left by the Bailey’s Brakes misadventure.

But the development agreement with CPLC in 2019 did not pass without some controversy. An appraisal for the city-owned parcels to be sold to the nonprofit came in at $700,000, while the city sold the land for $400,000.

Then council member Jeremy Whittaker questioned the discrepancy in a study session and ultimately voted against the deal, which passed 6-1. 

McVay and others argued that the tax revenue generated by the construction of the building and apartment rental tax would far exceed the difference.

McVay and other city leaders feel that CPLC’s Residences on Main project will do more for downtown than what was originally proposed for Bailey’s Brakes over 20 years ago.

In an interview with the Tribune in 2017, McVay credited Bailey’s doggedness for securing a more ambitious project for Mesa.

“Fifteen years ago when they were trying to do that corner, it was going to be a hardware store-anchored commercial strip center. And now because of the fight (Bailey) went through with the city, we’re going to get something that will be a much better gateway into our downtown,” he said.