At the end of July, the University announced
a partnership with developer DMB
Associates to acquire 100 acres in east Mesa,
Ariz., as part of a unique mixed-use project
called Eastmark that also will include retail
businesses and single-family homes.
Classes would begin on the site in 2015,
and enrollment eventually could approach
10,000 students.
The land, near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport
and Arizona State University Polytechnic,
once was home to the General Motors
Proving Ground, which closed nearly five
years ago, and represents GCU’s first major
expansion beyond its west Phoenix campus. A
total of four sites in the southeastern sector of
metropolitan Phoenix – known to locals as the
East Valley – were considered.
In 2012, the gift of a campus in western
Massachusetts was briefly considered by
the University, and a satellite site in the
Tucson area remains a possibility. Branches
of GCU’s College of Nursing and Health
Care Professions operate out of six cities.
Against a cheering backdrop of purple-clad
faculty, staff and students at GCU Arena,
Mesa Mayor
Scott Smith
congratulated
GCU and DMB officials for hammering out
the deal, describing it as “a great example of
how government and the private sector can
work together.”
Smith said, “This will be more than a college
campus, this will be a little village,” adding
that the site will be an economic driver for
the region, creating an estimated 2,000
faculty and staff positions.
Hospital
Corporate Offices
Grocery
Main Street Retail
Hotel
Classrooms
Student Union
Student Housing
