Suburban Phoenix Macy’s to be reconfigured to office complex
Mar 12, 2015, 1:59 PM | Updated: 2:08 pm
The city of Mesa announced plans Thursday to turn the long-vacated Macy’s at the Fiesta Mall into a corporate campus.
Mayor John Giles said, “Fiesta Mall is the center of the Fiesta District and this reuse of Macy’s is exactly the type of urban development we’ve had in mind for the area.”
The office center will be able to hold up to four tenants with a total of 1,300 employees, Scott Jackson with Verde Fiesta I LLC, the buyer of the building, said.
“If you shift into more than one eight-hour shift, that number could go up to maybe 2,000,” he said.
Jackson said annual salaries could vary between $30,000 and $90,000 depending on the tenants.
The store closed last year. Construction at the struggling mall, which opened in 1979 near Alma School Road and Southern Avenue, was expected to last 18 months.
“We’re going to change it from stem to stern to make it competitive with new product out there,” Jackson said, adding his company is willing to invest as much as $21 million in the remodel.
Jackson said the repurposed space could invigorate the struggling area.
“Repositioning the mall from a total retail orientation to one that would be more directed toward corporate office use, supported with compliments of retail and residential development, you end up with a work, live and play lifestyle that is so popular today,” he said.
KTAR’s Bob McClay contributed to this report.
