Arizona’s Richest Person Buys Final Piece in Mesa Mall Site

Verde Investments has finished buying up a demolished mall to build a retail village of up to 4,000 homes in Mesa, east of Phoenix.

The Tempe-based investor led by billionaire Ernest Garcia II paid nearly $24 million for the final 34 acres at the former Fiesta Mall site at 1445 West Southern Avenue, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

The deal works out to $705,882 an acre, completing the final land purchase of the 80-acre mall site.

Seller MMCP, a limited liability company of undisclosed origin, bought the 34-acre chunk in 2017 for $6.7 million, or $197,059 per acre.

In December, Verde received a green light from the city to redevelop the former indoor mall.

Plans for the development, dubbed Fiesta Redefined and designed by Texas-based Nelsen Partners, call for up to 4,000 homes, 1.9 million square feet of offices, shops and restaurants, and more than 500,000 square feet of open space.

Cost and timeline for the project were not disclosed.

Rezoning of the former mall site commenced late last year on the southwest corner of Southern Avenue and Alma School Road.

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, which was among its anchor stores. Once a retail mecca for greater Phoenix, the mall slid into decline and closed in 2018. It was razed in 2023.

Verde is seeking partners to advance the redevelopment.

“We are aware that Verde Investments is actively marketing the land to potential developers,” Mesa City Manager Chris Brady told the Business Journal in a statement. “We’ve had conversations with national and regional developers who have expressed interest in the site’s potential.

“While no deal has materialized yet, we are confident it is a matter of time for a developer to present a proposal that will bring jobs and offer quality mixed-use development.”

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 $14.5 billion.

— Dana Bartholomew