Vestar Plans Arizona Megaproject as Corporate Destination

Vestar is planning one of the largest proposed mixed-used developments in Arizona.

The Phoenix-based retail developer and operator’s plans for Legacy Park include a resort, high-end retail and restaurants, offices and 2,500 apartments, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. It would be built on 200 acres in southeast Mesa near Mesa Gateway Airport, Arizona Athletic Grounds and Arizona State University’s Polytechnic Campus.

It was described as a multibillion-dollar project. The property is owned by Pacific Proving, and the proposal has been in the works for more than three years.

The project calls for 300,000 square feet of upscale retail and chef-driven sit-down restaurants. Vestar likened the vision to that of Scottsdale Quarter, the upscale mixed-use shopping center that tech billionaire George Kurtz bought last month for $645.1 million.

A 600-room resort hotel and 3.4 million square feet of mid-rise office and corporate campus space slated for the site, along with a 20-acre park with several trails and a large man-made lake.

The project will rise in phases with the first starting construction in 2027. The first phase of the development will include the retail and hospitality components, the park, 700 multifamily units and 100,000 square feet of office space. Vestar has a vision of attracting a corporate headquarters tenant and is already in touch with anchor restaurant and retail tenants as well as hotels looking to put their name on the resort, though it didn’t elaborate further, the outlet said.

“This will be the next corporate location in the Valley,” David Larcher, the president and CEO of Vestar, told the outlet.

Elsewhere in the Phoenix region, Vestar is also developing the 260,000-square-foot Queen Creek Vineyard Towne Center in Queen Creek; the 500,000-square-foot Verrado Marketplace in Buckeye; and the 400,000-square-foot Laveen Towne Center in Laveen.

— Chris Malone Méndez