Legacy Park: 196 Acres at Ellsworth & Williams Field Rezoned for Mixed-Use

Mesa just rezoned 196.3 acres at the northeast corner of South Ellsworth Road and East Williams Field Road from Light Industrial to Planned Community District, clearing the way for a major mixed-use development called Legacy Park. This is the kind of move that reshapes a corridor, and if you own property nearby or you're watching the Gateway Airport area, you need to understand what's actually changing and why it matters to your wallet.

What Just Happened

Mesa approved the rezone (ZON25-00891) on file 26-0756 and simultaneously moved forward with annexation of the same 196.3-acre parcel (ANX25-00893) on file 26-0776. The project is being pushed by Dennis Newcombe and Gammage and Burnham, representing the owners Pacific Proving, LLC and Mesa BA Land. In the same action, Mesa also annexed an additional 5.2 acres at the southwest corner of Williams Field Road and State Route 24 (ANX25-00682, file 26-0787), which Pacific Proving also controls. That's over 201 acres total in this push, all clustered around the same intersection.

The rezone from industrial to Planned Community District (PC) is the real story. Light Industrial zoning in this area was written for warehouses, light manufacturing, and logistics. PC zoning is flexible by design. It lets the developer propose a master plan that can mix residential, retail, office, and hospitality on the same parcel without needing separate rezones for each piece. That's why it's called "mixed-use" and why it matters.

Why This Corridor Keeps Moving

Ellsworth and Williams Field is not random. This is the Gateway Airport corridor, and it's become the hottest industrial and mixed-use zone in Mesa over the past 18 months. You've already seen the broader Gateway rezone that added 750+ acres to the pipeline, plus the Eastmark residential push at Signal Butte and Rubidium. The City is deliberately clustering development here because it's close to the airport, it's got freeway access via the Loop 202, and it's far enough east that it doesn't collide with downtown or the core neighborhoods.

Legacy Park fits that pattern. The developer isn't starting from zero. They've already got the land under control (two entities, but one team), they've got the rezone, and they've got annexation locked. What they don't have yet is a detailed master plan approval, but that's the next step, not a hurdle.

What This Means for Gateway-Area Homeowners

If you own in the subdivisions west of Ellsworth (like Longbow Golf Club or the neighborhoods around Dobson), this rezone is good news for your property value, but not immediately. Mixed-use development takes 3-5 years from rezone to first shovel. What you get is certainty. Right now, if someone asks you "what's happening at Ellsworth and Williams Field," you can say "201 acres just got rezoned for mixed-use development." That's a concrete answer that affects how investors and appraisers think about the whole corridor.

For buyers looking at homes in the $350K-$450K range in that area, expect to see marketing language about "proximity to Legacy Park" and "Gateway mixed-use corridor" within 12 months. Sellers will use it. Whether it actually moves the needle depends on what gets built. If it's retail and office, property values stay steady or creep up. If it's apartments or hotels, you might see some traffic and noise complaints, but you'll also see more foot traffic and potentially more commercial activity nearby.

For investors watching land parcels in the Gateway zone, this is a signal. If Pacific Proving and Mesa BA Land could assemble 196 acres and push it through rezone and annexation in a single cycle, the City is moving fast on this corridor. That means other parcels nearby are more likely to get approved sooner. If you're holding raw land adjacent to Legacy Park, your timeline just compressed.

The Annexation Piece Matters

Don't skip over the annexation. These parcels were not inside Mesa city limits before. File 26-0776 brought the main 196.3 acres into the City, and file 26-0787 added the 5.2-acre parcel at SR 24. That means the developer no longer has to deal with unincorporated Maricopa County rules. They get Mesa's zoning, Mesa's building code, Mesa's development review process, and Mesa's infrastructure. Annexation is boring until it's not. In this case, it means Legacy Park is now fully under Mesa's control, which speeds up permitting and makes the timeline more predictable.

What to Expect Next

The rezone is done. The annexation is done. The next phase is the master plan. The developer will submit a detailed site plan showing where buildings go, how many units or square feet, what retail and office use, parking, traffic patterns, and infrastructure connections. That goes through Mesa's Planning and Zoning Board, then City Council. If there's going to be public pushback, that's where it happens. Expect 60-90 days for that review, assuming no major issues.

After master plan approval, you'll see grading permits and infrastructure work. That's when you actually see dirt moving. From rezone to first occupancy is typically 4-6 years for a project this size, so Legacy Park probably won't have tenants until 2029 or 2030 at the earliest.

What to Do Next

Read the actual rezone case on Mesa Legistar. Check file 26-0756 (ZON25-00891) for the staff report and any conditions the City attached to the approval. That document will tell you what the developer promised and what they have to deliver.
If you own property within a half-mile of Ellsworth and Williams Field, pull your parcel on Maricopa County Assessor records and check whether your land is also in an annexation or rezone pipeline. Legacy Park might trigger rezones on adjacent parcels.
Book a 15-minute consultation with a local Mesa Realtor to talk about how this affects your specific property or investment timeline. Schedule here.
Check the Mesa Gateway Corridor neighborhood guide to see what else is in the pipeline for this zone. Legacy Park doesn't exist in isolation.

This is educational content, not legal advice. Consult a licensed Arizona Realtor for your specific situation.