Valley 101

In its heyday, Fiesta Mall was "the center of the universe" for the East Valley. That's how Mesa Mayor John Giles puts it. Situated on the western edge of the city, by the US-60 and Alma School, Fiesta Mall was the premiere shopping spot for decades.  In 2017 it closed its doors, with the last holdouts shuttering in 2020. Since then, the 1.2 million square foot shopping center has been boarded up and unusable.  There were talks of converting it into multi-use property with campuses for both education and health, but talks on that stalled.  So the question remains: what is going to happen to Fiesta Mall?  In this episode of Valley 101, we speak with people in the know as well as residents who fondly remember Fiesta Mall in its prime.