By Scott Shumaker | East Valley Tribune
As growth farther east, the 2001 opening of Chandler Fashion Center and rising e-commerce pushed Fiesta Mall to closing in 2018, surrounding West Mesa shopping centers also suffered.
Fiesta Village, the north of the mall, experienced an especially rapid fall and became the district’s most visible sign of blight.
Today, Fiesta Village is showing new signs of life, both onsite and behind-the-scenes.
And while Fiesta Village was once a canary in the coal mine for distressed commercial property, it could be foreshadowing a larger transformation of the area.
The first of four new commercial buildings that will eventually line the northwest corner of Southern Avenue and Alma School Road recently passed the Design Review Board and now heads to the Zoning Board and City Council.
