Gaylord needs property to be blighted to build in Arizona

Gaylord Palms Hotel in Orlando

The Mesa City Council approved Monday the designation of redevelopment area for the 3,200-acre Mesa Proving Grounds.

That means the developers of two major resorts and a convention center will get an additional $7 million in property tax breaks, for a total of $85.5 million. The property is owned by DMB Associates of Scottsdale.

The resolution, which accepts existence of ‘slum and blight’ conditions on the property, needed six out of seven votes, per state statute, to pass. It was on the consent agenda, which is often approved without discussion, and the vote was unanimous.

In September, Mesa announced the $136.5 million tax-incentive agreement, which includes a bed tax incentive that’s up for a public vote in March. Nashville’s Gaylord Entertainment Co. plans to build a minimum 1,200-room hotel and convention center, similar to the company’s high-profile properties in Texas, Florida and Washington, D.C.

Read the entire story in the East Valley Tribune newspaper.