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Mesa won’t bond for new spring-training museum — but project lives on

Proposed Spring Training Museum

Mesa (Az.) officials decided to go ahead with a $130-million bond issue for city projects, but funding for a new spring-training museum won’t be part of the package.

The Mesa Historical Museum has sought $17 million in city funding for the Arizona Spring Training Experience, Museum and Community Center, which would focus on the Cactus League in an expansion of the organization’s previous exhibitions in Mesa and throughout the Valley. From the East Valley Tribune:

Missing from the bond the council approved is the Arizona Spring Training Experience, Museum and Community Center operated by the Mesa Historical Museum. Formerly known as the Cactus League Experience, the center would host approximately 4,000 pieces of baseball memorabilia and had a bond figure of $17 million.

At the council’s July 8 study session, however, Mesa Historical Museum CEO Lisa Anderson requested the council remove that item from the bond list, as she said the organization had new opportunities it wants to explore.

“We’ve determined there is a tremendous potential to develop this project beyond even the scope we’ve presented to you thus far,” she said.

Anderson added her organization may make another run at city funding in 2014. No word on when a new facility could open or where it would be located.

Image courtesy of Greey Pickett.

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