Gateway Pulse for August 10, 2026: Elliot Road goes to six lanes: $17.1M contract, 153 acres up for housing

• 🛣️ Elliot Road is getting six lanes. Mesa votes August 31 on a $17.1 million contract for the stretch running east to Ellsworth.
• 🏘️ Hawes Crossing Village 7 goes to the zoning board Wednesday. 153.5 acres at Hawes and Elliot, most of it flipping to housing.
• 📚 Gateway Library runs storytimes four mornings this week. Teen Manga Book Club meets Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
• 🏠 A 2020-built home in the Estates at Eastmark sold for $875,000. Mesa also says it is ready for Colorado River cuts.
• 🏘️ Four resident committees meet at The 'Mark this week. The Eastmark Farmers Market is back Saturday morning.
• ⛳ Firebirds golf plays two matches. BASIS Mesa runs campus tours Tuesday and Thursday.

Key facts

• Staff recommends awarding $17,143,737 to HEI Civil to rebuild Elliot Road from the East Maricopa Floodway east to Ellsworth Road. City Council votes Monday, August 31. Details.
• The road goes from a two-lane rural road to a six-lane arterial: raised medians, curb and gutter, sidewalk, roadside retention basins, traffic signals, street lighting, and median landscaping.
• A storm drain gets installed from Hawes Road out to the floodway.
• Wednesday, August 12: the Planning and Zoning Board hears Hawes Crossing Village 7, 153.5 acres at the southeast corner of Hawes and Elliot. Details.
• The request rezones 102.9 acres to small-lot residential. 73.2 of those acres are currently zoned light industrial, meaning land set aside for jobs becomes land for houses. The remaining 50.6 acres stay commercial and mixed use.
• A companion general plan amendment (a formal edit to Mesa's long-range land-use map) covers 103 acres of the same site. Staff recommends approval on the rezone and adoption on the amendment. Details.

What to watch: the zoning board only makes a recommendation. The Hawes Crossing cases go to council after Wednesday, and the road contract lands on the August 31 agenda.

• 👶 Sensory Storytime, Monday 9:30 a.m. Dim lighting, music, and movement, built for kids with sensory and neurodiverse needs. Gateway Library. Details.
• 🍼 Baby Lapsit, Monday 10:30 a.m. Ticketed, and space is limited. Tickets go out 15 minutes before start. Details.
• 🧸 Toddlertime, Tuesday 10 a.m. Same ticket rule, same room. Details.
• 📖 Preschool Storytime, Wednesday 10 a.m. Details.
• 🐉 Teen Manga Book Club, Wednesday 3:30 p.m. The club reads volume one of a series each month, then talks about it. Tween and teen. Details.

• 🏠 A 2020-built home in the Estates at Eastmark recently sold for $875,000, per Maricopa County records.
• 💧 Mesa says it is prepared for deep Colorado River cuts. The Mesa Tribune walks through the city's water position ahead of the federal Bureau of Reclamation's next round, including what data center demand adds to the picture. That matters on this side of town, where the Elliot Road corridor is the data center cluster. Details.
• 📍 196 acres at Ellsworth and Williams Field come up for annexation Monday, August 17. The public hearing is the step before petition signatures go out. The owners are Pacific Proving LLC, the company that bought the southern chunk of the old GM Proving Grounds in 2004, and Mesa BA Land LLC. Details.
• 🏨 The 233 opened in downtown Mesa at 233 E. Main St. It packs an Unscripted by Hyatt boutique hotel, Crust Simply Italian, Bombolino's Café, and a speakeasy called The Nightingale into one address. Details.
• 🥗 Aubergine Kitchen is planning two more Arizona locations, one of them at Queen Creek Marketplace. The healthy-eating chain is also headed to Desert Ridge. Details.
• 🎂 A Mesa man just turned 100. The Mesa Tribune sat down with the World War II veteran for the stories. Details.

• 💛 Philanthropy Committee, Monday 5:30 p.m. Resident-led, in the Classroom at The 'Mark, 10100 E. Ray Road. Details.
• 🏡 Towns at Eastmark board meeting, Tuesday 6 p.m. Q3 meeting for the Towns at Eastmark Neighborhood Association. All Towns homeowners can attend, and questions can be submitted ahead of time. Details.
• 💵 Budget and Finance Advisory Committee, Wednesday 4:30 p.m. Regular meeting of the resident-led committee. Details.
• 🗳️ ERA Transition and Nominating Committee, Thursday 5:30 p.m. Classroom at The 'Mark. Details.
• 🥬 Eastmark Farmers Market, Saturday 8 a.m. to noon. Great Park parking lot, just south of Gateway Library. Vendor applications run through eastmarketaz.com. Details.

• ⛳ Boys varsity golf, Tuesday 3 p.m. Eastmark High School hosts Combs and Desert Sunrise. Details.
• ⛳ Girls varsity golf, Wednesday 3 p.m. Firebirds versus Maricopa. Details.
• 🎒 BASIS Mesa primary tour, Tuesday 9:15 a.m. Kindergarten through fifth grade, at 5010 S. Eastmark Parkway. Covers the kindergarten schedule and the co-teaching setup. Details.
• 🎓 BASIS Mesa middle and high school tour, Thursday 10:15 a.m. Grades six through 12, same campus. AP course load and extracurriculars are on the walkthrough. Details.

• 🛒 Sprouts at EastMarket (Ray and Ellsworth). Construction underway. Building wraps up around August, Sprouts opens Q4 2026.
• 🏢 Liv at Eastmark (NE corner Ellsworth and Ray). 208 apartments across 12 buildings, recently approved. Construction next.
• 🔧 Brakes Plus Mesa (Ellsworth and Elliot). Auto shop still working through council site plan tweaks.