Presentation

City of Mesa — City Council (2026-06-08)

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Downtown Restaurant and Food 
Business Incubator
- Main Street Market -
City Council Study Session
June 4, 2026
Jeff McVay
Manager of Urban Transformation
Kimber Lanning
CEO, Local First Arizona

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Project Overview
• ARPA funded project
• City purchased 111 W. Main Street in 
2022
• Create restaurant incubator/food hall
• Diverse public dining opportunities
• Most will be start-ups, learning to be 
resilient and sustainable
• Grow into future Mesa businesses in 
their own location

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Project Overview - Design
• 1st Floor
• Large shared kitchen
• Public modern food hall
• 7 restaurant bays
• Bar featuring local brands
• Small dining space incorporating 
historic bank safe
• Basement
• Classrooms
• Production kitchen
• Food production
• Packing/shipping
• Photo studio
• Storage

Project Overview - Construction
• Design/ Build Contractor Selection
• Received two responses to RFQ
• Awarded to 180 Degrees Design + 
Build
• Contract includes:
• Final design of entire building
• Full build-out of 1st floor and exterior 
improvements
• Warm shell for 2nd floor and 
basement
• Mechanical, electric, and plumbing to 
support future build-out
• Contract amount: $4.57M
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Local First Arizona
•
Working in partnership with Mesa 
for over 10 years
•
Launched incubator kitchen at El 
Rancho del Sol in 2008 (now have 5)
•
Graduated 160 food businesses, with 
a 78% success rate after 5 years
•
Largest local business coalition in the 
country delivering business 
assistance to more than 2,500 
businesses annually

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• Local First's Business Accelerators teach 
strong business acumen and financial 
literacy
•
Fuerza Local
•
We Rise
•
Loan Readiness Boot Camp
•
Good Food Boot Camp
•
Ag Business Boot Camp
• Farm to Table, supporting local farms
• Workforce training for hospitality
• Cottage Industry brings people to 
legitimacy

Lease Agreement - Terms
• Initial Term: 10-years
• Three, five-year renewals
• $10,000/year rent
• Rent escalation of $5,000 per year, 
at each renewal.
• City holds rent income to offset 
landlord costs
• LFA responsible for typical 
operations and maintenance
• City responsible for major systems 
and structure
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Lease Agreement – LFA Obligations
• Provision of all incubator programming
• Minimum of five annual Program 
Participants (first floor)
• Minimum of 80 annual Program 
Participants (upon build-out of 
basement)
• Min. 4 Program Classes quarterly with 
20+ participants
• Mesa resident/business preference
• LFA to reinvest any profit back into 
program
• Food Court open minimum 6 days/week (8 
hours/day)
• Quarterly reporting to City on program 
metrics
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Lease Agreement – City Obligations
• Full design of improvements to 
support restaurant and food business 
incubator programming
• Full build-out of 1st floor and exterior 
improvements
• Warm shell for basement
• Mechanical, electric, and plumbing to 
support full build-out of first and 
second floor
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Next Steps
• City Council action on Lease 
Agreement: June 8, 2026
• Complete construction: October 2026
• Commence Incubator programming: 
January 2027
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DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS
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