🛠🚧 Downtown Chandler (see post) isn’t the only Valley city working on a food hall. Downtown Mesa also is planning one, although the concepts are significantly different.
What: Mesa is partnering with non-profit Local First Arizona, which already has a downtown community kitchen where would-be restaurant owners can learn to create a menu and other aspects of opening a business.
- The new food hall (pictured above in an architectural rendering) would be the next step for restaurant owners, providing them an affordable space to get actual experience in running their concept.
Where: The city has bought an historic 12,000-square-foot building next to the Nile Theater on the southwest corner of Main and MacDonald.
- Officials foresee one or two permanent anchor food stalls with four or five rotating ones.
Where to apply: Local First Arizona is accepting applications from restaurant concepts. Owners must be Mesa-based and have a city business license.
The timetable: The city hopes to begin construction in early 2024 with the opening in fall 2025.
