Fifth Avenue Advisors

Mesa Voters OK bid to keep Chicago Cubs in Arizona – Gary Nelson, The Arizona Republic, Nov 2, 2010

With nearly 100 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 420 led by a nearly 2 to 1 margin.

Chicago Cubs proposed Mesa spring training facility

The measure authorizes Mesa to spend up to $84 million for a stadium and practice facilities, most likely on the site now occupied by Riverview Golf Course. The city has said it would spend up to an additional $15 million for infrastructure.

The stadium is to open in time for spring training in 2013.

A large crowd at the Hilton Phoenix East Mesa Hotel cheered and waved “Yes on 420″ signs as the first returns of the night appeared to signal an insurmountable lead for the proposition.

“Mesa has done its part,” Mayor Scott Smith said. “Now we’re going to expect the Cubs to do their part with a World Series.”

The election was the climax of a nearly two-year effort to keep the Cactus League’s most popular team in Mesa, where it has trained on and off since the early 1950s.

Although the Cubs’ current stadium is only 13 years old and is already the largest in all of spring training, the team has grown dissatisfied with training facilities at nearby Fitch Park.

As Mesa and the Cubs discussed what to do about that, the team began expressing a desire to build a “Wrigleyville” entertainment complex next to its facilities, something that can’t be done at landlocked Hohokam Stadium.

Last year, business interests in Florida offered to build a stadium and other facilities for the Cubs, at the same time providing enough land for Wrigleyville. But Mesa convinced the team to stay, contingent on financing.

 A Cactus League funding bill died in the Legislature this spring, forcing Mesa to pay the bill itself. The city will sell some of its Pinal County land holdings to pay for stadium construction bonds.

 There is a possibility a scaled-back Waveyard water theme park will be built next to the Cubs complex. Waveyard’s plans for a voter-approved $250 million resort at Riverview fizzled because of the global recession.