Phoenix, AZ – Gaylord Entertainment staked its claim to the Phoenix trade show market with purchase of a site in the suburb of Mesa as the location for its next hotel-convention center complex.
No specific details of the proposed convention center were revealed, although Gaylord said September 4 that the project would include a golf course as well as office and residential space. The scope of the plans depends on the negotiation of incentives.
The site is described as a prime segment of a 3,200-acre parcel known as the Mesa Proving Grounds. The site was once used by General Motors to test cars and was sold in 2006 to the real estate development company DMB Associates, Inc. Gaylord called the Proving Grounds one of the largest remaining parcels of contiguous land available in the Phoenix market.
DMB said in a statement that it anticipated the new Gaylord would be the largest hotel in Arizona and would act as a catalyst for additional development of the Proving Ground site.
Gaylord Entertainment operates convention center resorts in the Nashville, Dallas, Orlando and Washington, DC markets and is in negotiations to build a new property outside San Diego.
The newest Gaylord, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, boasts 400,000 square feet of flexible meeting and exhibit space. By contrast, the Phoenix Convention Center is being expanded to 645,000 square feet of prime exhibit space plus 167,000 square feet of meeting space.
Reach George Hutcheson, Gaylord executive director of national accounts, at (866) 972-6779 or ghutcheson@gaylordhotels.com
