Good morning, Mesa. Another triple-digit weekend ahead, so the good options are mostly indoors and air-conditioned.
- 🏨 A four-star hotel floated for downtown Mesa. Developers are pitching it around the city's convention business.
- 🎬 A full weekend at the Mesa libraries. A Moana matinee, LEGO builds, a home-buying seminar, and Dungeons & Dragons, Friday and Saturday.
- 👮 A Mesa PD school-officer deal goes to council July 20. The agreement puts Mesa Police in Mesa Public Schools as resource officers.
- 🏠 546 homes sold in Mesa last month.
- 🎟️ Around the Valley. Diamondbacks versus the Cardinals, Les Misérables, and a Phoenix warehouse show, all Saturday.
A four-star hotel floated for downtown Mesa
Developers are floating a four-star hotel for downtown Mesa, pitched around the convention and event business the city has spent years trying to grow.
What is known:
- The pitch: a four-star, full-service hotel in the downtown core.
- The angle: developers see room to grow Mesa's convention and event bookings.
- The backdrop: downtown already has the Mesa Convention Center, the Mesa Arts Center (the largest arts complex in the Southwest), and light rail into the core.
- Not yet public: the location, the room count, the developer, and a timeline.
A full-service hotel has long been the missing piece downtown. Since light rail reached the core and Sloan Park started drawing Cubs crowds every spring, the downtown blocks have been Mesa's steady second-act story, but landing larger conventions takes rooms within walking distance of the convention center and the arts center. That is the gap this proposal aims at.
No plans have been made public yet. ABC15 has the early reporting.
The Weekend
Mostly indoor, mostly free, and heavy on the library calendar.
Thursday
- 🖋️ Writer in Residence send-off reading. Mesa's library Writer in Residence reads from published poetry and fiction and a new nonfiction project on Arizona history. Main library, 6 PM. Details.
Friday
Saturday
- 🎬 Family Matinee: Moana. The full movie, rated PG, free. Main library, 1 PM. Details.
- 🧱 LEGO builds and a clothing swap at Dobson Ranch. Free-build LEGO at 10 AM, a kids' clothing swap for ages 0 to 12 at 1 PM. Details.
- 🏡 Home buying and selling seminar. A walk through the steps plus current market info. Dobson Ranch library, 10 AM. Details.
- 🐉 Dungeons & Dragons at the library. An experienced player runs a table for new and returning players. THINKspot at Main, 3:30 PM. Details.
- 🎯 Saturday Trivia Night. All ages, hosted by Cultivate Young Adult Ministry. Living Word Bible Church, noon. Details.
Around Mesa
- 🏠 546 homes sold in Mesa last month.
- 👮 Mesa Police head to council over school duty. An agreement with Mesa Public Schools would place Mesa PD officers in schools as resource officers. City council votes July 20. Details.
- 📋 Mesa Public Schools governing board meets July 23. The district board gathers at 6 PM at 549 N Stapley Drive. Details.
Around the Valley
A few picks worth leaving Mesa for this weekend.
⚾ Diamondbacks vs. St. Louis Cardinals. Chase Field, downtown Phoenix, Saturday at 1:10 PM. The roof stays shut in July, so it is the coolest seat in the Valley. Tickets.
🎭 Les Misérables. Stephenson Theatre at Phoenix Theatre, Saturday at 1:30 PM. One of the most-staged musicals anywhere, in a smaller room than it usually gets. Tickets.
🎧 Ahee at Walter Where?House. A show at one of Phoenix's warehouse rooms, Saturday at 3 PM. Tickets.