Starbucks planned near Mesa Drive, Southern Avenue in Mesa

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

A limited-service Starbucks with a drive-thru is planned on the west side of Mesa Drive and south of Southern Avenue in Mesa.

The Mesa Design Review Board on Oct. 8 discussed the look and landscaping for the business on 0.3 acres. Board Chair Dane Astle was absent.

The site plan shows a proposed 1,265-square-foot building, Staff Planner Jennifer Merrill said during the meeting.

“There is the drive-thru lane that wraps around the building. It starts at the southwest corner of the site, wraps around the east side, and then the exit is at the northwest corner. There is a canopy over the pickup window on the north side of the building, and then there is also a canopy and trellis over the drive-thru lane facing Mesa Drive,” she said. “Also facing Mesa Drive are 4- to 6-foot-tall landscape screen walls.”

John Clay of Red Mountain Group is the applicant. Red Mountain Asset Fund II LLC, Red Mountain Asset Fund I LLC and MacFrugals’s Plaza LLC are the owners.

The restaurant will be in the Plaza Mesa Shopping Center originally approved for development by Mesa City Council in 1985. The shopping center has 51,975 square feet of leasable tenant space and two undeveloped pads on the north and east sides of the property, Jeff D. Welker of Welker Development Resources LLC wrote in a project narrative.

A drive-thru Starbucks coffee shop with a patron walk-up window is planned. It is to be open 4 a.m.-9 p.m. seven days a week, he said.

“Since the original development in 1985, prior owners have allowed the landscaping to wither, die and ultimately be removed. All that remains in these landscape areas is decorative rock. The owner proposes to supplement the decorative rock by restoring landscaping to these areas along the Southern Avenue and Mesa Drive frontages and in the existing islands and medians within the existing parking areas,” Welker said.

The all-volunteer Mesa Design Review Board is unique in that its composition is set by the zoning ordinance to include two architects; two from other design professions such as landscape architecture, engineering, urban planning, interior design or other design-related background; one contractor or developer; and two residents, according to the city’s website.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.