Hotel, minor league players living quarters approved near Cubs Way in Mesa

A new development along Rio Salado Parkway that includes a hotel and multifamily residential units was recently approved unanimously by the Mesa City Council.

The project covers about 3.1 acres near West Rio Salado Parkway and North Cubs Way. It will include a roughly 54,700-square-foot hotel and a 36-unit residential building.

The residential facility is for seasonal baseball players affiliated with the adjacent Chicago Cubs Minor League and spring training complex.

The five-story, 65-foot-tall multiple-residence building is to have a secure access for residents. It is also to have a sports court, putting green, barbecue area, outdoor lounge and 13,400 square feet of first-floor common, administrative and support spaces, it states in a project narrative.

City staff and the Planning and Zoning Board both recommended approval before the council’s final vote on April 20.

Tempe resident Noah James Markham spoke briefly in support of the new development.

“A 36-unit multiple resident building, that’s good,” he said. “Especially by North Cubs Way in Rio Salado, you know, that’s really close to the Cubs training over there.”

R. Carey Davis, treasurer for Arizona Legislative District 15, spoke in opposition to the new construction.

Davis said neighboring cities similar in size, like Chandler and Gilbert, have higher percentages of single-family housing compared to multifamily developments.

“The city is suffering in part as a result of the mixed family/the high density units that are being built in the city of Mesa and that we need to discontinue taking that approach,” Davis said. “The city of Mesa is starting to look like California.”

Davis also said he believes higher-density housing developments contribute to crime in Mesa.

“This is something that the city should not approve partly because it continues to I believe result in a higher crime level in the city because of the higher density,” he said.

Davis also pointed to the Mesa Planning and Zoning Board’s approval of 230 single-family homes planned near the southeast corner of South Hawes Road and East Mesquite Street in March 2026, and urged the council to continue supporting similar developments instead of additional multifamily housing projects.

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