GM sells off last piece of Arizona proving grounds
The Arizona Republic is reporting that General Motors has finally sold of the last 3,200-acre chunk of its provings grounds in east Mesa, AZ to a company called DMB Associates for $265 million. GM sold the first 1,800 of the 5,000-acre property to William Lavine, a developer from Phoenix who made his money from billboards, back in 2004. DMB Associates, for its part, will likely put up housing and commercial sites on the property. Most likely the newly developed land will do more for the Mesa area than the proving grounds ever did, despite the loss of income from spy photographers who now have no reason to visit the area.
We reported on the potential sale of this property back in June, and one reader from the area in question commented that Mesa was particularly interested in moving GM off of the remaining 3,200 acres because it had lost its title of "Fastest Growing City in Arizona" to a town called Gilbert next door. With 3,200 of land ripe for development and expansion, Gilbert's going down.
[Source: The Arizona Republic via GM Inside News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tcc3 7:30PM (1/03/2007)
The real proving grounds may be dead, but that looks like a hell of a track for game racing.
We need one of those in Gotham or Forza.
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Christian 7:37PM (1/03/2007)
I live a few miles away from the proving grounds and I am going to miss it and all the cars and trucks that drive by daily covered in black bags.
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8189720 11:06PM (1/03/2007)
GM probably needed the money....
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Will 11:15PM (1/03/2007)
Hopefully GM has other hot weather proving grounds. I would hate to see GM cut research and development in order to save a few bucks.
With Toyota growing so fast, GM better keep improving the quality, or they will be easily forgotten.
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sfast 11:46PM (1/03/2007)
I'm sure this had very little to do with cash. The town likely put a lot of pressure on GM to sell. It was just a matter of time. At one point or another they would have had houses all around their test track, people bitching about the noise and even more spy shots on the internet. They likely sold the land for enough money to make another test track or improve another test track that will end up being better then the one they are selling.
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BlingingBilly 1:07AM (1/04/2007)
Yay Urban Sprawl! I can't fucking stand Arizona. It's going to be one big suburb soon. I hate that state.
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Greg 2:11AM (1/04/2007)
GM probably got a great deal on land in Iraq.
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AZMike 9:21AM (1/04/2007)
two facts not mentioned:
1) GM is leasing back the property for five years.
2) GM has had a proving ground in Mexico for a few years; they will be expanding that.
the article dosn't mention that Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, and Bentley still have large facilities here. many others lease time from these facilities to test their own cars, too.
where I live (40 miles south of Phoenix) there is rarely a day I don't see some type of prototype out on the road. they usually travel in groups of three.
Mike
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phlavor 2:36PM (1/04/2007)
They should keep all the roads and just build houses next to them. All 200 mph speed limit neighborhoods. That will keep kids from chasing balls into the street.
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