Downtown Mesa Association outlines 2024 accomplishments, parking and events push for 2025

Terry Medexa, president and executive director of the Downtown Mesa Association (DMA), reviewed DMA’s 2024 accomplishments and 2025 priorities at the Mesa City Council study session on May 8, highlighting DMA’s clean‑team operations, a slate of new events, parking coordination with the city and an upcoming public hearing for the district assessment.

“We have a team of five full‑time employees that are out there working to keep our district looking great,” Medexa said, describing DMA’s clean team and new bright blue uniforms and vehicle wrap. Medexa told council DMA’s clean team handles more than 16,000 service requests per year and removes about three tons of trash per month on average.

DMA and city staff discussed parking availability and near‑term actions. Jeff McVay, manager of urban transformation, said the city will hold a ribbon‑cutting for the Hibbert Garage at 8 a.m. next Monday and plans to transition roughly 550 city employees (and city vehicles) into the Hibbert Garage over the following weeks. McVay said those moves should free about 30 spaces in the centrally located Pepper Garage for time‑limited customer parking and that an overall inventory of more than 5,000 public parking spaces exists across downtown garages and lots.

Council members and DMA discussed signage and wayfinding. Medexa said DMA worked with the city to standardize parking signs with a recognizable “branded blue” symbol to help visitors find parking; staff also identified the need for clearer on‑site rule signage that conveys hours and availability for permit and public spaces. City staff said a parking app is in beta and currently standalone; staff will evaluate whether to integrate it into the city’s Mesa Now platform.

Events and marketing were a major focus. Medexa said a Visit Mesa sponsorship provided $150,000 to underwrite four signature events this year. DMA reported several attendance figures: a baseball block party drew about 2,500 attendees, a first‑year New Year’s noon‑year event drew more than 5,000 people, and DMA’s downtown gift card program produced more than $14,000 in direct spend at more than 40 businesses. DMA said it collects attendee ZIP codes via RSVPs and geofencing to analyze where visitors come from and plans to expand events that can generate overnight stays.

Medexa described business engagement and commercial vacancy work, saying city staff and DMA meet with brokers and property owners to attract tenants; staff estimated downtown commercial vacancy above 10 percent and said a single property owner controls a significant portion of that vacancy. McVay said facade improvements are in final design for 18 participating properties and construction on the first sites will begin later in May; city staff said the facade program will continue over the next 12–18 months.

On funding and governance, staff reviewed DMA’s professional services agreement with the city and the Special Improvement District (SID 228) funding structure. City staff said the SID’s annual commercial assessment public hearing is scheduled for the May 19 council meeting; at the time of the study session the city had received three letters of protest covering four parcels out of 525 assessed commercial parcels.

Medexa identified alleyway beautification, a mobile information kiosk to link convention and event patrons to downtown businesses, and continued emphasis on free family‑friendly events, marketing and walkability improvements as DMA priorities for 2025. DMA said it had set aside funding to support small‑scale public‑space projects and would pursue partnerships with the city, Visit Mesa and ASU.

Councilmembers praised DMA’s recent work and asked for more operational details. Several asked DMA to provide a breakdown of personnel and non‑personnel expenditures; Medexa committed to provide budget detail in the May 19 council materials. The council did not take immediate action on DMA’s contract; the SID assessment public hearing will be on the May 19 council agenda.