City, school and college officials envision a future when Mesa’s Fiesta Ddistrict is a hub for amateur sporting events, concerts and state athletic competitions.
They hope a $60,000 feasibility study will shed light on whether or not it’s the right time and place for such a complex, and what the economic impact could be.
For more than a decade, the Mesa Unified School District, Mesa Community College and city leaders have talked about creating an athletic/events complex that could attract out-of-town visitors who would spend money in surrounding restaurants and hotels.
Each group sees various benefits.
For Mesa schools, which continually dominate high school state championships, it could mean a local venue to host those events instead of driving to the West Valley.
For MCC, it could provide its athletes with locker rooms they currently don’t have and a state-of-the-art facility to attract students.
For the city, it’s a potential way to boost an area of town in need of redevelopment.
The contract for the feasibility study has not been signed, said Mesa senior civil engineer Chris Scott.
But a company has been identified, along with a list of questions each group hopes to have answered.
The three groups will split the cost of the study — $20,000 each. The final report could be before the City Council in late February, Scott said.
“There’s a lot of different elements that could go into it, but what we’ve asked them to focus primarily on is the events center with 6,500 seats and a football/track stadium which we envision to be 17,000 to 18,000 seats,” he said.
In addition, the study will explore the possibility of an 80,000-square-foot student recreation center with swimming pools.
Jared Langkilde, director of development at MCC, said the eastern part of the Dobson Road and Southern Avenue campus is being targeted as a potential location.
That’s where the football stadium and parking lots are located.
“We have a huge need,” he said. “A lot of our students have for the last 45 years used their automobiles as their locker rooms. They’re changing in their cars. When they come
to us from the (kindergarten through 12th grade) system and are accustomed to locker rooms and showers, it’s a little shock to now do that in their cars. As a result, a lot of the talent that would come to MCC and stay here in our community gets shipped out of state because ASU and others will only accept so many.”
The events center could also host graduation ceremonies and lectures.
“The whole East Valley needs an inside venue for that,” he said. “We could use these facilities all by ourselves no problem, but there is no way we could construct them on our own.”
Scott said once it’s determined whether or not a complex like this is feasible and what it should look like, then the groups will look at how to fund it.
The groups are also watching to see what happens with the Cubs, said Steve Hogen, director of athletics and physical education for the Mesa school district.
“I think before we get too far we need to do the due diligence on the feasibility study and see an independent source say ‘Yes, this would be a good idea’ or not,” he said.
mesateacher posted at 9:25 am on Sun, Oct 10, 2010.
The next time anyone in schools, k-12 or college, talks about how important education is, I'm going to puke. I have nothing against sports, but when is enough enough? How many more millions are we going to spend on overpriced, overhyped sports facilities while our education system in is such sorry state? Let's use that money for science labs, highly qualified instructors, modern classrooms, research centers. This stupid state and country has so many pundits griping about education, yet it comes down to money, all they want to fund is sports. Sports, sports, sports. And you wonder why American and Arizona students are so f***ing dumb!
westwood rules posted at 7:50 pm on Sun, Oct 10, 2010.
Why is Mesa Schools, which has cut tens of millions of dollars from its budget, closed schools and laid off teachers even considering paying for sports facilities for MCC, much less wasting $60,000? How often would the high schools use the stadium? A couple of times a year? And it would cost you a third? Did MCC see some suckers in the city and school district who said sure, we have millions to give you?
Put the money into fixing up the old schools in Mesa and let someone else build their own Taj Mahal.
renew21 posted at 8:30 am on Tue, Oct 12, 2010.
Its great to see our teachers using or referring to inappropriate words in this forum. Great character and leadership. Maybe it is our teachers, the teachers unions that has allowed for our education system to become so poor. Maybe its time to look in the mirror, the feds and the unions why education sucks in this country. Maybe your making less money because your unions dues suppress your ability to thrive and to allow the cream of our teachers rise to the top. We also do not need all the bells and whistles that this teacher believes our students need. We could soon be wasting tax dollars on upgrading technology, classrooms and not seeing a return in our investment. We as parents and teachers have to make those investments worthwhile, not more money thrown at a bad and failing system. Like Einstein said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
To make money the issue for failing schools is ignorant and uniformed. Money is not the cure here, and tons of research has been conducted to prove it does not help like the libs like to point out. When we have accountable schools, teachers and parents that is when our students thrive. To ignore alternative activities for students such as sports is a reason why our schools continue to fail. These activities give them a release, to focus their energy on sports and their academic success has been a positive aspect in any community. As a former athlete, the things I learned, the work ethic has propelled me to receive multiple degrees and a successful career. It keeps our students out of trouble, focused on their studies, healthy and creates social skills.
I think if MCC wants to do this, they need to push to become a 4 year college to a make more sense of this concept and vision. This idea has been floating around for a decade or more. I feel it is bad timing to move forward with this.
snipes posted at 11:10 am on Tue, Oct 12, 2010.
Schools are supposed to be in the EDUCATION business, not some glorified and ill-conceived sports arena facility.