Mesa Riverview owner plans to raze part of shopping center

Mesa Riverview opened its doors five years ago with up to $80 million in taxpayer incentives and plans to revive west Mesa with new shops and a bustling entertainment district. But now that some storefronts in the main street-style district have sat idle for a half-decade, Riverview’s owner plans to bulldoze the center’s most lifeless area. Kimco Realty wants to tear out many of southernmost shops along the street that leads to the Cinemark movie theaters. Kimco told city planners the overpowering architecture creates an uncomfortable setting, and that many Riverview customers are unaware the center has the entertainment district. “We’re really trying to open up the theater and restaurant area to the remainder of the site,” said Bill Brown, a vice president of development for Kimco. “We believe that the existing building configuration kind of closes itself off to the main field of parking and the main tenant mix.” The city understands the center’s design problem but is concerned Kimco would replace much of the former building space with parking, said John Wesley, Mesa’s planning director. “It seems there’s ample parking out there to begin with,” he said. The new parking is part of a long-range plan to add another 125,000 square feet of shops to the 1.3 million square feet already developed, Brown said. Kimco is still working on the larger plan and doesn’t plan to tear down any other buildings.

Click here to view this article from its source.