Mesa Site Planned For Goldwater Library Gets Slated For New Use

By Amanda Luberto
Published: Thursday, February 4, 2016 - 5:47pm
Updated: Friday, February 5, 2016 - 2:19pm
Downtown Mesa could soon be home to a 15-story mixed-use building.

Mesa announced Thursday plans for a vacant plot of land to finally be filled. The land was held for the Barry and Peggy Goldwater Center for Democracy's library that was planned to be built there.

The 40,000-square-foot library was also going to be a place for the Goldwater archives and artifacts. The foundation's director and chief of staff, Judy Eisenhower, died last October and was considered the "champion" behind fundraising. No one has stepped up to fill the role she had for the library itself.

After the center failed to request an extension of the memorandum when the funding was not met, the city decided to move on. Mesa’s manager of downtown transformation, Jeff McVay, said the city has a plan moving forward.

“The request for proposals increases the amount of land to be looked at to two acres and is looking for a primarily medium to medium-high density residential development that could allow some mixed-use development, but that would be able to transition over time to reflect the more urbanizing pattern of downtown Mesa.”

Arizona State University announced Thursday that they are going to open another campus in downtown Mesa. McVay said the residential development will be within a reasonable distance of the college campus, but it was not a site that Arizona State University considered.

February 18 is the deadline for those who are interested in responding to the proposal.