Verde Investments to Build Retail Urban Village in Mesa

Verde Investments has gained approval to replace a demolished indoor mall in Mesa with an urban retail village of up to 4,000 homes.

The Tempe-based developer led by billionaire Ernest Garcia II got the go-ahead from the Mesa City Council to redevelop the 80-acre Fiesta Mall site at 1445 West Southern Avenue, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

Plans for the development, dubbed Fiesta Redefined, call for up to 4,000 homes, 1.85 million square feet of offices, shops and restaurants and more than 500,000 square feet of open space

A cost and timeline for the project was not disclosed.

The redevelopment, designed by Texas-based Nelsen Partners, moved forward with a rezoning of the former mall site on the southwest corner of Southern Avenue and Alma School Road.

“We’ve worked closely with Mesa’s planning team and leaders to craft a redevelopment plan that reflects the community’s values and aspirations,” David Leibowitz, a spokesman for Verde, said in a statement. “This approval paves the way for a thriving, dynamic destination that will boost Mesa’s economy, create jobs and help address the Valley’s housing shortage.”

The city of Mesa has pointed to the redevelopment of Fiesta Mall as among the “optimal uses of real estate within the city,” according to the Business Journal.

The 1.2 million-square-foot mall, which officially opened in 1979, was developed by Sears Roebuck and Company, among its anchor stores. Once a retail mecca for greater Phoenix, the mall slid into decline and closed in 2018. It was razed last year.

Verde Investments, a holding company founded in 1992 by Garcia, invests in commercial properties. Its Verde Outdoor owns more than 1,200 billboards across the U.S.

Garcia is the largest shareholder of Tempe-based Carvana, a sub-prime lender and online retailer of used cars, and owns DriveTime Automotive, a used-car dealership in Phoenix. A convicted felon stemming from the Lincoln Savings & Loan scandal, he is the richest person in Arizona, according to the Business Journal, with a value pegged by Forbes at $17.7 billion.

— Dana Bartholomew