City greenlights new commercial center near Eastmark
Apr. 17—A new 7-acre retail commercial center with a hotel is on tap for the northwest corner of Elliot and Ellsworth roads, injecting long-desired retail into an industrial part of southeast Mesa.
The Planning and Zoning board last week recommended approving the rezoning request for the unnamed mixed-use development, which borders the new Acadia Healthcare behavioral hospital to the north
Dignity Health's General Hospital is to the south of the project.
The site plans include a 102-room hotel, a sit-down standalone restaurant, two drive-thru restaurants (Dutch Bros and Arby's) and two retail buildings with space for numerous shops.
"It's good to see some of this infill coming out there. It's much needed," said planning board chair Ben Ayers.
The property is L-shaped and will be on the southwest corner of Ellsworth Road and Peterson Avenue. The hotel, retail shops and restaurants line the edge of the property with parking behind the buildings.
Application documents don't include detailed plans for the hotel or name an operator. A staff report said the hotel would likely exceed the 30-foot height limit in Limited Commercial zoning, so the applicant will have to come back to the city for additional review prior to building the hotel.
The two retail building blocks in the commercial center total 15,000 square feet, with another 1,500 square feet of patio space. There's a covered breezeway between the retail buildings.
The Design Review Board, which heard the case the day before planning and zoning, praised the layout.
"I love the scale of the projects, the architecture up against the road with the parking behind. These are all nice things," board member Paul Johnson said.
Johnson also praised the "double-sided architecture" — both sides of the buildings are attractive and accessible to customers.
The board offered a few suggestions on tweaking the color-scheme and materials, but there were no major criticisms.
