Mesa Mayor Mark Freeman couldn't resist the urge to use a little wordplay when describing the impact of the roughly 233-acre Legacy Park and Gateway Crossing projects.
"This will be a legacy project," Freeman said at the Sept. 14 meeting.
With the visitors to the Arizona Athletic Grounds and the rapid growth of the southeast Valley, the project will be a huge asset for the city, he said.
The Mesa City Council voted unanimously to annex the 197 acres for the proposed southeast Mesa project, approve a development agreement, and approve a sales tax deal to support some of the project's construction.
The roughly $3 billion development is expected to generate around $58 billion in economic impact for the city over a 30-year period, according to a city staff
presentation.
An independent economic analysis from the firm Applied Economics projected the development would create 13,500 jobs over a 30-year period, according to a city press release.
The majority of those jobs, roughly 11,110, would come from the estimated 3.2 million square feet of office space projected to be built over the next 30-years. The second highest category of jobs would be in the retail space with 640 projected by December 2034.
In addition to a 600-room resort, the development will include two 95-room hotels, a 150-room boutique hotel, apartments, shops, office space, and a new 20-acre city park with a public lake.
The project is being developed by Vestar, the company behind retail developments like the Tempe and Desert Ridge marketplaces.
In a statement released after the Sept. 14 council meeting, CEO David Larcher said his company could not be more honored to be developing the Legacy Park project.
"We have the chance to create something truly unprecedented for Mesa and the Southeast Valley," Larcher said in the statement.
The project will provide much needed hotel space for visitors to Mesa, city manager Scott Butler said at the Sept. 14 council meeting.
Roughly 60% of Mesa visitors stay in hotels outside the city limits meaning the city doesn't get to capture the sales tax dollars generated by those visitors, he said.
This project will give people more reasons to stay and spend their dollars in Mesa, said Sally Harrison, president of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce.
The investment can create opportunities for businesses throughout the city from suppliers and contractors to restaurants, retailers and service providers, she said.
Most speakers expressed support for the project.
David Giarrizzo, an East Valley Realtor and resident in the Eastmark neighborhood, said Legacy Park will fulfill a vision long promised by developers in the southeast Valley.
Giarrizzo referenced projects like the Gaylord Hotel and Grand Canyon University campus that were promised but failed to materialize.
"That vision is probably not in the cards for the five-square-miles that is Eastmark proper, but it could still very much be a part of our community in southeast Mesa," he said.
A handful of speakers opposed the project, arguing the city was providing a tax benefit for a developer to build retail and hotel space for wealthier residents.
"We're not shopping at Louis Vuitton and Pottery Barn," said Jillian Ryan, Mesa resident and leader of the activist group Indivisible Mesa. The group describes itself as a grassroots movement electing progressive leaders and defeating the MAGA agenda, according to its website.
Butler emphasized the sales tax deal would only apply to revenue generated by the property.
The revenue will go to reimburse developer Vestar for the public improvements its building as part of the first phase of the project, Butler said.
That includes building the roads, sewers, electric utilities, the park, and the pedestrian tunnel under Williams Field Road connecting Legacy Park to Gateway Crossing, another hotel and retail development that's part of the project.
The city projects the cost for those improvements to be around $76.4 million.
It will also connect visitors to the Arizona Athletic Grounds, which hosts 2.4 million visitors annually, according to its website.
Legacy Park offers Mesa a second chance to realize a vision for the southeast Valley, Vice Mayor and District 6 Councilmember Scott Somers said.
Somers district covers southeast Mesa where the project will take shape.
The new office space will bring the opportunity for companies offering high-wage jobs to relocate to Mesa, Somers said.
More importantly though, the development will offer what he referred to as "high value" jobs while giving the example of a homeless resident trying to pull themselves out of poverty.
"We shouldn't cheat them that job," he said.
Vestar plans to break ground on the first phase of the project in January 2028 with a 600-room luxury resort scheduled to open in October 2029.
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Reporter Harrison Mantas, who covers Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek and San Tan Valley, can be reached at hmantas@azcentral.com. Follow him on X @HarrisonMantas or Instagram @harrisonmantas.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why huge Legacy Park project expected to transform southeast Mesa
