By Scott Schumaker | Mesa Tribune
Public board votes usually pass without fanfare, but the audience inside a conference room at the Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport started clapping spontaneously a few moments after its directors voted on a contract May 17.
The vote in question approved a 40-year lease with Gulfstream Aerospace for 18 acres on the east side of the airport, where the business jet maker plans to build a 225,000-square-foot, $100 million hangar adjacent to the runway.
Gulfstream Vice President Joe Rivera told the board that the Mesa hangar will be the company’s new West Coast service hub, where Gulfstream jet owners can send their planes for tune ups and “every solution to maintenance requirements for our customers in every region.”