I originally started looking into Gateway Crossing because I wanted a better update on the Sam’s Club coming near SR-24 and Williams Field Road.

Sam’s is planned to anchor the development, with more retail, restaurants and commercial space around it. There’s still no opening date I’d put on a calendar, and we don’t know all the businesses coming with it yet.

But while I was looking into that, I started paying more attention to what’s sitting around Gateway Crossing.

That’s actually the more interesting part to me.

You’ve already got Arizona Athletic Grounds basically right outside of it. Eastmark and Cadence are right there. SR-24 runs through this whole area. And then there’s this massive Legacy Park project being worked through with Mesa nearby.

Put all of that together and this could eventually be a pretty different part of East Mesa.

Legacy Park is the big wildcard here

The numbers being discussed for Legacy Park are pretty wild.

The current plans have included around 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, roughly 2,500 homes and apartments, a possible 600-room resort and conference center, and eventually as much as 3.4 million square feet of office and corporate space.

I definitely wouldn't read that and assume every one of those things is getting built exactly like that. This project still has plenty to work through, and something this big can change a lot before dirt actually starts moving.

The resort is a good example.

When I first saw 600 rooms, that sounded huge to me.

Then I started thinking about Arizona Athletic Grounds sitting right there and it made a little more sense.

If you've ever spent a weekend there for a tournament, you know how many families can pile into this area at once. A lot of them are coming from other parts of Arizona or from out of state, and there's still not a ton immediately around the complex for them.

Hotels, restaurants, places to hang out between games, somewhere for an entire team to eat afterward. That stuff matters a lot more when you have a giant sports complex bringing people in all weekend.

So a resort and conference component next door doesn't sound quite as random when you look at the whole area instead of Legacy Park by itself.

And that’s where Gateway Crossing fits

I actually think Sam's Club makes perfect sense here.

There are already thousands of rooftops between Eastmark, Cadence and everything else growing around Mesa Gateway. Then you have the traffic Arizona Athletic Grounds brings in, plus the airport, ASU Polytechnic and all the employment growth happening down here.

This area doesn't need more houses before it can support commercial. The people are already here.

What I'm more curious about is what they put around Sam's Club.

This is one of those locations where I'd really like to see the developers resist the temptation to fill every available pad with whatever is easiest.

I don't need six more drive-thrus.

I'd love a couple good sit-down restaurants. Somewhere families can go after games at Arizona Athletic Grounds. Places Eastmark and Cadence residents would actually be excited to have five minutes away.

Gateway Crossing doesn't need to be fancy or try to become an entertainment district. Sam's is going to make this a very practical, high-traffic shopping area and that's completely fine.

But there should be room for some better stuff around it too.

The three projects together are what I keep coming back to

This is probably the easiest way to explain why I'm watching this.

Arizona Athletic Grounds is already bringing people here.

Gateway Crossing gives those people, plus everyone already living nearby, more shopping, restaurants and services.

Then Legacy Park could potentially add the hotels, more restaurants, offices and other things that keep people in the area longer.

Those three pieces could work really well together.

They could also create a ridiculous amount of traffic if the roads and access aren't thought through properly.

That's probably my biggest question with all of this.

Arizona Athletic Grounds can already make this area pretty busy when there's a big tournament. Sam's Club isn't exactly known for generating light traffic either.

Now imagine Gateway Crossing fully built out and Legacy Park eventually adding thousands of residents, hotel guests, employees, restaurants and everything else being discussed.

Williams Field, Ellsworth and the connections to SR-24 are going to have a lot asked of them.

I'm curious to see what Mesa and the developers do with access, signals, entrances and the way people move between these projects. I'd almost rather see that stuff done really well than get one extra restaurant everybody is excited about.

Almost. 

This whole area feels different to me than it did even a few years ago

For a long time, East Mesa felt like the houses were way ahead of everything else.

Eastmark grew like crazy. Cadence came in. More houses kept pushing farther east and south. And you still found yourself driving somewhere else for a lot of things.

That's changing.

Arizona Athletic Grounds is here. SR-24 made this area dramatically easier to reach. Mesa Gateway continues to grow. More restaurants and shopping are filling in.

Now Gateway Crossing and potentially Legacy Park are another layer on top of that.

So yes, Sam's Club is coming, and I'll keep watching for an actual construction timeline, opening date and the businesses that start signing around it.

But that's almost the easy part.

I'm more interested in what this entire pocket looks like once you start connecting Gateway Crossing + Arizona Athletic Grounds + Legacy Park.

If even a good portion of what's being discussed gets built, I think people who haven't been out here in a few years are going to be pretty surprised by what this part of East Mesa turns into.

Jessica Vukobratovich

REAL Broker

480-678-9397

jessiev.realestate@gmail.com