Nov. 10, 2021
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., one of the world’s leading private jet manufacturers, has chosen Mesa as a destination to build its West Coast maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility. The company, which is owned by General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), announced Tuesday morning that it would investing $70 million into a new facility at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
“After a few years of looking throughout the western U.S., we kind of homed in on Mesa for a number of different reasons – the infrastructure, the airport, the support of the airport authority and local government, the schools in the area – all of it is the right infrastructure for us to invest and grow for many years to come,” Gulfstream President Mark Burns said.
Burns, along with a number of elected and business officials, made the announcement at the Gateway Airport on Tuesday morning. The new facility will be where Gulfstream customers can fly to and get their planes serviced or repaired. The facilities will include maintenance hangers, Gulfstream offices and spaces for customers.
While the $70 million facility will not be finished until 2023, Gulfstream will post job openings on Wednesday morning and will start maintenance operations in a smaller degree at the Gateway
airport in an existing hanger, Burns said. Initially the company will hire 50 to 75 employees, and when the new facility is constructed, the employee count will increase by about 200, he said.
Burns described the Gulfstream jobs as “high-tech” and “good paying.” The company has already made deals with Arizona State University and Chandler Gilbert Community College for training and job placement programs.
The 225,000-square-foot Gulfstream facility will be the first project built on 700 acres on the east side of the Gateway Airport that is being prepared for development. Gulfstream will be building on part of the 100 acres that is being set aside for aeronautical development.
Another 200 acres is where the airport will build its next commercial terminal and the other 400 acres will go towards a high-end mixed-use development with office, industrial and retail spaces, according to J. Brian O’Neill, the executive director, and CEO of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Authority. A master developer for those 400 acres is expected to be announced before the end of the year.
The city will be investing about $4 million in streets and water infrastructure around this project, which helped seal the deal on this investment by Gulfstream, Mesa Mayor John Giles said.
The hope shared by several of the officials at the announcement event Tuesday was that contractors and subcontractors that work with Gulfstream will look at opening facilities here as well.
“This represents a turning point in our state. We are expanding the areas in which we grow our economic opportunities,” U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said. “This Gulfstream announcement will help bring other companies to Arizona as well.”
Not just Gulfstream, but its customers
The city of Mesa, the Gateway Airport, the state government and Greater Phoenix Economic Council, worked on bringing Gulfstream to Arizona for about two and half years, GPEC CEO Chris Camacho said. The deal was highly secret, going by the code names “Project Big Bird” and “Project Reinhold.”
While having Gulfstream’s facilities and the new jobs is a big deal, Camacho and others are already looking at what the new facility could mean for further economic development in the area. The people who own and fly Gulfstream jets are usually high-level business leaders, and having this facility in Mesa not only gives the airport and the area some credibility, but also is a chance to show Mesa and Arizona off to a lot more decision-makers.
“We are a global brand. People from all over the world will bring their airplanes to Arizona for us to do maintenance on them,” Burns said. “I think our brand brings a new cachet to the airport that will enhance what they have already done.”
So whether it is other companies that work in Gulfstream’s field or just business leaders who are introduced to Mesa and Arizona through Gulfstream’s facilities, there is a belief this project will
bring a lot of positive attention to the region. “This just serves as a linchpin to further economic activity in the southeast Valley,” Camacho said.
Private jet politics
Sinema and U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton were both at the announcement at the Gateway Airport. Both Sinema and Stanton took the time to boast about the more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill they championed that recently passed both houses of Congress and is waiting to be signed by President Joe Biden.
While the Gulfstream announcement doesn’t have anything to do with the infrastructure bill, Sinema said Gulfstream and its customers will benefit from the infrastructure bill, which will be used to update Mesa-Gateway Airport.
“Our bill makes major investments at every airport in Arizona, including Mesa-Gateway,” Sinema said. “The funding will help build a new terminal and will help increase upkeep for runways, taxiways and our air traffic control tower. It makes a measurable difference here in Mesa, and I think it is part of what attracts companies like Gulfstream to come do business here.”
Gov. Doug Ducey was not present at the event, but Gulfstream showed a video he recorded earlier celebrating the announcement.
This article was originally published in the Phoenix Business Journal. If you would like to view the original article you can view that here.
