Gaylord pulls plug on resort at Mesa Proving Grounds

PHOENIX — Gaylord Entertainment has pulled the plug on plans to build an $800 million resort at the Mesa Proving Grounds.

Gaylord shareholders voted to sell to Marriott by Oct. 1. Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said this move has been coming for months and is not a deathblow to the master-planned Eastmark development at Ellsworth Road near Elliot Road.

“The growth of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and a lot of other development and businesses going on and the infrastructure going in, Gaylord wasn’t the driver anymore.”

Smith said he may have felt differently four years ago.

“It was to be the gateway to Gateway, the one that primed the pump. It’s disappointing that they’re not going to be part of Eastmark but the area will be just fine without Gaylord.”

Smith said Gaylord’s decision does not end his hope for a world-class resort and conference center near the airport.

Plans call for about 15,000 homes in the Eastmark Development. The first homes will open next year.

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