By Philip Haldiman, Editor-in-Chief | Dealmaker
The economic engines of Pinal County took center stage at Pinal Partnership’s monthly breakfast at Gold Canyon Gold Resort Friday morning.
The discussion centered around three of the county’s most important driving forces right now: the Eastmark housing community in Mesa, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and the transportation projects coming from Arizona Department of Transportation.
Jordan Rose, president and founder of Rose Law Group, moderated the discussion.
The DMB Eastmark development in Mesa has been handling the housing recovery well, with a variety of products from condos to single-family and mixed-use to commercial.
Garilyn Bourgeois, director of marketing for Eastmark, said the development had 80 contracts in March compared to 56 in June of 2013.
Optimism is up, she said.
“There has been better consumer confidence in the East Valley,” Bourgeois said. “Now it’s time for commercial and entertainment. We have the rooftops, but we need to be cautious.”
A major hub of transportation in the East Valley has been the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Planner Tony Bianchi said the airport brings in about $1.3 billion in economic activity annually and offers 35 destinations with Allegiant Air.
He said the airport will be seeing a number of developments in the coming years, including plans for a new terminal and compatible growth with 1,000 of 3,000 acres vacant. But if there aren’t facilities that are attractive to customers they will go to Sky Harbor, he said.
“Our market potential is Pinal County. That’s our future market, so we really want to work with you,” Bianchi said.
Speaking of transportation, in response to expected growth in Pinal County, ADOT is looking at a new transportation route between U.S. Route 60 in Apache Junction and Interstate 10, near Eloy and Picacho.
Scott Omer, deputy director of operations, said ADOT is studying the area, known as the North-South Corridor.
Officials are currently working on a design and environmental study.
But Omer said the challenge is attaining funding to keep up with the growth. Funding primarily comes from the federal government, but their model is not sufficient to meet future needs, he said.
“It’s become harder to rely on the federal government (for funds),” he said. “I’m concerned we may impede future growth if we don’t get the proper funding.”
