Mesa Council updated on proposed Culdesac development

The developer of a multiuse residential and commercial property aimed at sustainable, often car-less living, is planning a big project in Mesa.

The Mesa City Council was updated on a proposed 25-acre real estate development from Culdesac during their March 6 study session.

According to a presentation, Culdesac proposes to build a vibrant and mixed-use neighborhood on 25 acres of city-owned land at the southwest corner of University Drive and Mesa Drive. The neighborhood would feature not just housing but also public amenities and various retail locations.

It’s billed as “car-lite,” meaning it will allow some cars but seek to promote an area that encourages more walking and alternative transportation like its sister development nearby.

Culdesac has built a neighborhood in Arizona before. Their flagship development, Culdesac Tempe, features more than 288 housing units, more than 20 local businesses, a night market, farmers’ market and more. According to a presentation, Culdesac is also working on a 41-unit development in Atlanta.

The Mesa development would have over 1,000 units, including for-sale townhomes/condos, for rent apartments, retail and more.

“What we’re going to build there is 1,000 residential units across the site, 25,000-50,000 square feet of retail and 25,000-50,000 square feet of amenities,” Culdesac CEO Ryan Johnson said during the study session. “This is going to be a bold, energetic vision that brings more attention and people to Mesa with quality homeownership opportunities and it’ll bring a lot of small businesses.”

The development’s location was chosen due to its proximity to downtown Mesa as well as the light rail. This connects the development not just to Mesa’s downtown, but the larger Phoenix area as well, according to Johnson.

“Our vision is to be a key node not just of Mesa but of greater Phoenix,” Johnson said. “To be a remarkable car-lite hub that has homeownership opportunities. It pushes sustainability, grows talent and sets the standard as a leading development in Arizona.”

The presentation highlighted some of the core tenants of Culdesac Mesa’s design philosophy. These include:

• Homeownership opportunities that promote a long-lasting community and allow for new demographics to put down roots;

• Quality urban design that draws inspiration from desert modern and historical Spanish architecture;

• Sustainable lifestyle through amenities and desert adaptive design that minimizes heat effects;

• A vibrant retail that features a range of commercial spaces from micro-retail to larger anchor stores.

Mesa Councilmember Julie Spilsbury asked about how parking would work given the development markets itself as car-lite, meaning there will likely be less reliance on automobiles within the community, thus resulting in less parking than at a usual apartment, where there would be more parking spaces than units.

“I wanted to ask about the parking, since it’s car-lite. I’m seeing around one-to-one for the first phase. Is that what we’re thinking?” Spilsbury asked.

“We are structuring the development agreement to have a minimum requirement of 800 parking spaces as was in the initial concept,” Downtown Transformation Project Manager Jimmy Cerracchio said. “We are discussing potential for increasing that, but Culdesac is committing to one space per unit in the first phase.”

According to the presentation, the developers will need to finalize purchase and development agreements, and return those to the city council by spring 2025. Once they are entered into a purchase agreement, Culdesac can initiate the final design and planning and zoning elements, with the projected date of completion of construction currently unknown.