To see the future of west Mesa, look to the abandoned Target store at Main Street and Dobson. Or move east and see the shell of the old JCPenny building and the empty parking lots of former car dealerships.

Redevelopment in west Mesa is going to continue to be a controversial issue as long as the area offers 26 check-cashing stores, six pawnshops and a string of low-rent apartments - some with mattresses stacked up on porches and broken windows boarded up with plywood.

Mesa is renewing an incentives package to boost west Mesa’s economy even though the effort helped only two businesses in the last five years. The city renewed the designation of an enterprise zone for a roughly seven-mile area where certain businesses can get tax breaks if they expand or move into the vicinity.

Trying to lure new real estate investment and keep pace with the times, Mesa is taking its first step toward wholesale changes in a zoning code that has remained unchanged for 18 years.

A nonprofit is working to have more start-up businesses establish themselves in west Mesa, and it's starting a free 10-week program on Thursday to assist entrepreneurs.

With rakes and shovels in hand, 40 volunteers with DMB Associates turned a once vacant lot in Mesa into a community garden last week.

The Metro light-rail system has triggered $1.5 billion of development in Phoenix — and now the development spurt is moving, selectively, to the east. It recently lured the first proposed rail-related project to Tempe and has sparked a frenzy of land deals that could lead to other projects soon on Apache Boulevard.

Mesa is offering more than $2.8 million in incentives to lure a beer distributor - and its 455 employees - to the city in what is the largest single influx of jobs to the community in years.

The crumbling Escobedo Neighborhood in Mesa generated 780 police calls last year — a number that’s even more stunning when one considers the area hasn’t been home to a single resident since 2007.

An East Valley developer and downtown Mesa landowner is attempting to buy more property just west of the Arizona Mormon Temple.

West Mesa neighborhood leader Dave Richins announced this week he is considering a run for the District 1 Mesa City Council seat, which is now held by Vice Mayor Claudia Walters.

A wave of change is sweeping the organizations that promote economic development and charitable giving in Mesa as new leaders are taking the helm.

A proposal is in the works to bring luxury, highrise condos to downtown Mesa, replacing an embattled halfway house and two other longtime businesses.

A proposal is in the works to bring luxury, highrise condos to downtown Mesa, replacing an embattled halfway house and two other longtime businesses.

A flier arrives in your mailbox bearing some shocking news: The property down the street is slated to become a shopping mall.

A flier arrives in your mailbox bearing some shocking news: The property down the street is slated to become a shopping mall.

Pinal County and a prominent developer, in their zeal to convert rural areas into money-making subdivisions, are scheming to squeeze a small Queen Creek-area water utility dry, a lawsuit claims.

Mesa Councilman-elect Dave Richins will resign from his job as president of a nonprofit group to avoid a conflict of interest before taking office in June, he said Tuesday.

Mesa will have three new low- to moderate-income housing developments in the next few months, thanks to the city, private developers and federal tax credits administered by the state.

Mesa has fielded offers from an auto mall developer who wants to build at the Riverview Softball Complex located in west Mesa, city officials said.

Mesa has fielded offers from an auto mall developer who wants to build at the Riverview Softball Complex located in west Mesa, city officials said.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Love used to frequent Park of the Canals near her west Mesa home until “it just got a little creepy.” That may change very soon, thanks to the dogged efforts of a group of residents who banded together two years ago, determined to reinstall playground equipment and once again make the park an attraction for kids and families.

The first piece of a gigantic east Mesa puzzle is in place. The City Council approved Monday a major plan amendment for 5,000 acres of the General Motors Desert Proving Ground, largely owned by DMB Associates and Pacific Proving LLC.

Mesa will begin testing the waters this month on a parks and recreation improvement package that could lead to the first major upgrades in the city since voters approved a bond package in 1996.