“Executives with the Gaylord Entertainment Co. have visited Mesa for the first time since they laid out plans in 2008 to build a 1,200-room resort and conference center. Mayor Scott Smith said the city invited Gaylord to check out progress around the proposed resort because so much has changed in four years. The 100-acre resort would have stood alone in east Mesa if it had been built shortly after it was announced, but the recession delayed it. Smith said the city showed Gaylord executives two weeks ago that the area has become one of Mesa’s more active places for development. “They saw that they’re no longer the trail blazer,” Smith said. “There’s been huge amounts of investments that have been made. That certainly can’t help but impress them.” The proposed resort would be one of the key attractions at the 3,200-acre Eastmark master-planned community at the former General Motors Proving Grounds. In fact, it was envisioned as the first attraction there. But Eastmark owner DMB Associates will start selling 800 homes in 2013, the first of 15,000 units to be built over several decades.”
