diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flecsale/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flecsale/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3e788fa634
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/flecsale/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2017, Los Alamos National Security, LLC
+# Produced at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/llnl/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+
+from spack import *
+
+
+class Flecsale(CMakePackage):
+    """Flecsale is an ALE code based on FleCSI"""
+    homepage = "https://github.com/laristra/flecsale"
+    url      = "https://github.com/laristra/flecsale/tarball/v1.0"
+
+    version('develop', git='https://github.com/laristra/flecsale', branch='master', submodules=False)
+
+    variant('debug', default=False, description='Build debug version')
+    variant('mpi', default=True,
+            description='Build on top of mpi conduit for mpi inoperability')
+
+    depends_on("cmake@3.1:", type='build')
+    depends_on("flecsi~mpi", when='~mpi')
+    depends_on("flecsi+mpi", when='+mpi')
+
+    # drop when #3958 has been merged
+    def do_fetch(self, mirror_only=True):
+        super(Flecsale, self).do_fetch(mirror_only)
+        git = which("git")
+        git('submodule', 'update', '--init', '--recursive')
+
+    def build_type(self):
+        spec = self.spec
+        if '+debug' in spec:
+            return 'Debug'
+        else:
+            return 'Release'
+
+    def cmake_args(self):
+        options = ['-DENABLE_UNIT_TESTS=ON']
+
+        if '+mpi' in self.spec:
+            options.extend([
+                '-DENABLE_MPI=ON',
+                '-DFLECSI_RUNTIME_MODEL=mpilegion'
+            ])
+
+        return options