Mesa’s New Palo District to Include Two Hotels

The former Fiesta Mall site in Mesa is poised to get two new hotels as part of its sports-focused redevelopment.

Investment fund Sunny Day Sports, the firm behind the so-called Palo District project, announced plans to build the lodging alongside other components at the 80-acre former mall site, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. In addition to hotels, the Palo District is slated to include medical facilities, a sports stadium, offices, retail and restaurants.

Details surrounding the hotels remain light. The two properties will total approximately 600 rooms with 400 in one structure and 200 in another, according to the Business Journal.

If complete, the 400-room property would be the largest hotel in Mesa and across the eastern Phoenix region. The hotel would include a chef-driven restaurant and meeting spaces as well as a pool area. It would be connected to the planned stadium, likely hosting teams, coaches, officials and fans who come to the area for games.

The smaller 200-unit hotel would be a higher-end extended-stay property, which often sprout up near hospitals and medical campuses to serve transient customers like travel nurses. The first announced project in the Palo District was a $100 million women’s sports medicine campus, per the Business Journal.

Sunny Day Sports and its development partner Plaza Companies are in “final discussions” with “several major hotel companies” for the properties, Sunny Day Sports said, according to the Business Journal. Both hotels are expected to open in early 2028.

As for who will play in the forthcoming domed stadium, Sunny Day Sports has launched an initiative gauging interest in bringing a professional soccer team to Mesa that would play in the venue. Company CEO Vicki Mayo kicked off the effort in January, calling on locals to express interest in an online petition if they would want to see a National Women’s Soccer League team in Arizona. More than 15,000 people signed on within 10 days, according to Mayo.

“It’s just really demonstrating that this region and Arizona are ready for the future of sports and professional soccer here in Arizona,” Mayo told the Business Journal.

Other commercial components of the Palo District are taking shape. Sunny Day Sports have signed a deal with LG Electronics’ investment arm to build an artificial intelligence-focused venture studio in the to-be-built district, according to the Business Journal.

— Chris Malone Méndez