A Long-Term Look for Eastmark

Listening to the land and understanding a regional context for a major new community can be a daunting task. The vision and the legacy of a new large-scale community will impact a region for decades into the future. The scope and complexity of such an effort demands careful study, thoughtful conversations and long-view thinking. For the planning and development teams at DMB Associates, this exercise began many years ago when the company’s leadership were contemplating opportunities in an area they envisioned as a future major regional core for the Valley. The area is Gateway, an area boasting a unique alignment of amenities that create a synergy unrivaled in the region: completed infrastructure, an expanding airport at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, high quality education and health care. Visionary groups like East Valley Partnership, the Brookings Institute and ASU’s Morrison Institute studied this area and also identified Gateway as a key growth opportunity for the East Valley. Situated the heart of the Gateway area, General Motors held nearly 4,000 acres of land to test its cars and motorcycles of the future. For more than 50 years, the General Motors Proving Grounds operations made its mark on the East Valley, employing thousands of inspired engineers and imprinting its legacy on the area. As GM made plans to move its operations to Yuma, the possibilities of this site became one of the most exciting opportunities in the entire Valley.

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