Posts
-East Valley Tribune: Mega-resort, conference center coming to Mesa
-Arizona Republic: Megaresort may help jump-start Ariz. tourism
-East Valley Tribune: Grand Ole Opry owner plans huge hotel in Mesa
-Arizona Republic: Gateway: How hotel deal came together
At first blush, I thought that they were trying to build a Grand Ole Opry in Mesa, but the reality is much different. What is in the works is a mega-resort and conference center near the Gateway airport complete with 2,900 hotel rooms, golf, at least 200,000 sq. feet of convention space. In all, it represents $1 billion in local investment. Take a look for yourself to see what the other Gaylord properties look like. Their latest appears to be the Gaylord National which opened in DC.
Still no word on exactly what the City has to do to land a project like this, but its great to see that Mesa is being competitive for projects like these. There are a lot of questions to still be answered as Jim Ripley points out. Of course tourism is cyclical, but last time I checked, Climate was still one of the five C's for Arizona. Tourism events like spring training, the bowl games, and other events seem to take place year after year. Why wouldn't Mesa try to fight for its share of the dollar especially with such a different attraction?
We'll see how this progresses, but one thing is for certain: this will certainly set the tone for development around Gateway.
1 comment:
You said, "but one thing is for certain: this will certainly set the tone for development around Gateway."
I agree 100%. This is HUGE for Mesa, and I have to say Kudos for Mr. Brady initiating the contact, sticking it out, and making sure Mesa was the spot were this mega resort lands. Obviously they wanted to come to Arizona, and in the past, we did not even come close to land things half the size and impact as this. Just think, even though it went to a vote, and was almost a landslide, people wanted to bring Waveyard here. At least we protected ourselves since no dirt has been turned since the vote. But this news, most likely without a vote is even bigger. The great thing is, we will know have two anchors, one for the west, and one for the east side of town. I just hope with all of this great stuff, downtown and fiesta wont be overlooked. I personally think with these things coming to Mesa will help this area, but I hope the city does not forget it and overlook it.
Now to what Jim writes. To me, this is a negative and lame spin. I know this is how the press works, but it always reflects the city in general in looking at the negative instead of celebrating something so big for once in this community. Of course, everyone is going to ask those questions, this is Mesa. But for once, it would be nice to soak this up and say gosh, look at what our city is doing as of late. The ball is rolling, and rolling even faster with this council and mayor.
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