By Jeff Metcalfe | Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK
Mesa voters rejected a ballot proposal to build a youth sportsmegacomplex in Arizona’s third largest city so a private investment group is taking on an even grander project
Legacy Cares, Inc., an Arizona based non-profit organization, closed last week with Ziegler, an investment bank, on $250 million financing to build a family sports and entertainment complex in southeast Mesa.
The Legacy Sports Park will cover 320 acres at Ellsworth and Pecos, east of Mesa Gateway Airport on the former General Motors Proving Ground. The complex is 50 acres larger than the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida, where the NBA currently is gathered to stage its playoffs during the coronavirus pandemic.