Development projects set for Mesa in coming year

Development projects for 2024 are part of Mesa’s plans to change its perception as a bedroom community and suburb of Phoenix.

The city has been focused on bringing new jobs, enhancing higher education attainment and building new city facilities.

Growth in the southeast area of the city is prompting new builds while redevelopment in west Mesa will be something to watch.

Here’s a look at what to expect with these developments in the new year.

Gulfstream

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is expected to open its aircraft service center at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the spring of 2024. It’s the company’s first facility in Arizona.

The 225,000-square-foot facility will be the hub for maintenance and repairs of its airplanes, jets and other aircraft in the western U.S. The company has nearly 3,000 aircraft in service worldwide. The project was first announced in 2021.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic, a sister company of Virgin Atlantic, is expected to open spaceship manufacturing at Gateway Executive Airpark in 2024.

Customizations to two hangers at the airport at the north end of the airfield are expected to be completed in the spring.

The Mesa assembly manufacturing facility could produce up to six spaceships per year for commercial flights. From there they will be shipped to the Virgin Galactic’s New Mexico operational headquarters in New Mexico for flight tests and commercial operations.

The company first announced investment in Mesa in 2022.

NAU education center

Northern Arizona University, in partnership with Kind Hospitality, is expected to break ground on a twostory workforce development center near the airport.

The university’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management will offer hotel restaurant management and hospitality degree programs as well as noncredit credentials. The center will be part of the larger 350-acre Skybridge Arizona development.

Fiesta Mall redevelopment

Movement at the long-time property of the once-shopping giant Fiesta Mall is finally happening. Developers began to demolish the 1.2-millionsquare-foot retail building in July.

Verde Investments is spearheading the redevelopment of the property under the name Fiesta Redefined. Initial plans call for multi-family residential housing, office and commercial space.

An official rezoning vote by the City Council could likely come in 2024 that would solidify the developer’s vision for the 80-acre property.

Gateway Library

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Mesa will start construction on a

nomic development in neighboring Maricopa County. Health care is a target area that speaks to a growing region.

County leaders have been eager to grow their tourism industry for years. They hope their county’s natural beauty and its proximity to major cities could blossom into a booming hospitality business.

Florence, the county seat, already hosts Country Thunder annually. The four-day music festival attracts tens of thousands of country music fans. The Arizona Renaissance Festival is held every spring in Gold Canyon and generally draws a little under 300,000 people during its six-week run, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism and Arizona Department of Transportation.

County leaders also see transportation, distribution and logistics as a promising field. Interstates 10 and 8 merge near Casa Grande, which makes it a ripe hub for distributors coming to and from Southern California.

“There used to be this dividing line, but we are really becoming part of the lifeblood of the metro Phoenix area,” said James Smith, the county’s economic and workforce development director. “You see that particularly with electric vehicles, with the semiconductor supply chain, which will serve companies in Maricopa County.”

Others nod to the county’s historical strengths. One industry the region hopes to target is natural and renewable resources, which includes the mines dotting the eastern half of the county.

That area, known as the copper corridor, has long struggled with a dwindling population and a lack of economic opportunities. Officials have sought to revitalize it and recently announced an internet service company will bring broadband internet to the region.

Similarly, electric vehicle manufacturing companies such as Nikola and Lucid have already set up shop in the county. Officials will aim to grow that sector in coming years.

A focus on aerospace and defense belies the Pinal Airpark near Marana. The airport largely serves as a boneyard for aircraft. It once was used as a training base for the military, and still houses a heliport for the Arizona National Guard.