After years of delays, Crust debuts three eatery concepts in downtown Mesa

MESA, AZ — Crust Concepts, a Valley-based hospitality group, has opened three new restaurants in downtown Mesa after years of delays.

The restaurants have been in the works since before the Covid-19 pandemic started in 2020. They are clustered together on the ground floor of a mixed-use development called The Grid that includes multifamily housing and a hotel at 233 E. Main St. in Mesa.

After being stalled during the pandemic, construction on the Grid and the Crust restaurants halted when the developer of the project filed in 2024 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Then last summer, Soltrust, a real estate developer with office footprints in Scottsdale and Seattle, took over the development, and work started back up again.

With the stops and stalls and unknowns of the Mesa project, Crust owner Michael Merendino said there were a few times he thought about pulling the plug on the project but always felt like there were reasons to stick it out.

Read more of this story from the Business Journal.