Planned resort's developer to ask Mesa for extension

The developer of the $800 million Gaylord resort will ask Mesa to extend its deadline for starting construction next year, Mayor Scott Smith said. Gaylord Entertainment has indicated it isn’t able to build anything by late 2011, Smith said, but that it still wants to open a resort in east Mesa. The delay is the result of two setbacks. For years, the recession put a huge dent in leisure travel. Then a storm in May flooded the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., closing the 2,800-room hotel until this week. The repairs cost $270 million for Gaylord’s flagship resort. Smith said he hasn’t heard any concerns from the City Council about a delay. “There’s no problem, I think, with a reasonable extension,” Smith said. Mesa voters in March 2009 overwhelmingly approved incentives of $51 million, allowing Gaylord to collect bed taxes that otherwise would go to the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau’s marketing efforts.

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