Evergreen Development Plans 261 Apartments and New Retail on 11.7 Acres in Mesa’s Eastmark

Southeast Mesa is getting another mixed-use neighborhood. Evergreen Development, a regional commercial real estate developer headquartered in Phoenix, has acquired an 11.7-acre parcel north of Signal Butte and Warner in Mesa’s Eastmark submarket, where it plans a community that pairs multifamily housing with new retail. The seller was Brookfield, and the price was not disclosed.

The residential program calls for 261 apartment homes spread across nine three-story buildings. Residents will have an amenitized clubhouse, a resort-inspired pool, a fitness center, and outdoor gathering spaces with TVs, barbecue stations, fire pits, and a dog park. Evergreen expects to break ground in the first quarter of 2027, with lease-up beginning in the second quarter of 2028.

The retail side of the site is planned as an approximately 8,500-square-foot multi-tenant building for restaurant and retail uses, plus a 2,360-square-foot free-standing Chipotle with a pick-up Chipotlane. A JLL team led by Regan Amato is marketing the retail space, and Amato said retailers and restaurant operators are showing strong interest in being part of a planned mixed-use development with new residential density and strong surrounding demographics.

The project builds on ground Evergreen already knows. Laura Ortiz, the firm’s President and Managing Principal, pointed to the Safeway-anchored center Evergreen developed and leased just south of the site, which has served the community since 2020, and said the adjacent parcel was a chance to add a residential component in partnership with Brookfield and the City of Mesa. Jim Bulsiewicz, Senior Vice President at Evergreen, described suburban mixed-use as an emerging focus for the company, with the goal of integrating residential and retail so that each use strengthens the other.

It also continues a busy stretch for Evergreen in Mesa. Over the past 12 months the company has started construction on 482 units across two developments, and the Eastmark project adds to that pipeline.

Why it matters to JFN

Nine three-story buildings on a single site is a format we know well. Garden-style communities like this one reward a production mindset: repeated wet walls, repeated riser and water heater locations, and repeated mechanical rough-in across every building, so the plumbing and mechanical scope can be planned once and executed nine times with tight quality control. The shared clubhouse, pool, and fitness center add their own gas, water, and drainage systems, and the adjacent restaurant pads bring commercial kitchen plumbing into the same development. A groundbreaking in early 2027 puts this project squarely in the next wave of East Valley multifamily work, in a submarket where Evergreen already has a track record. We are glad to see an experienced Phoenix developer keep building housing alongside the everyday services residents want, and we will be watching this one as it moves toward construction.

Sources: AZ Big Media, September 14, 2026; REBusinessOnline, September 8, 2026