EASTMARK TIMELINE
1952 — General Motors begins testing vehicles on several square miles east of Williams Air Force Base. Among its first projects: the Corvette. 1953 — General Motors Desert Proving Ground opens, with legendary designer Harley Earl on hand. 1963, 1974 — The test site undergoes major expansions. 1993 — Williams Air Force Base closes and becomes a civilian facility. 1996 — Arizona State University East opens on part of the former base with 1,000 students. It is now known as ASU’s Polytechnic campus. 2004 — As GM mulls options for future test sites, it sells the southern third of the proving ground to Phoenix businessman William Levine. 2006 — DMB Associates of Scottsdale buys the northern 5 square miles of GM land for $265 million. 2007 — Passenger service begins at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. 2008 — Mesa annexes and zones DMB’s land for a master-planned community that is originally called Mesa Proving Grounds. Gaylord Entertainment Co. of Nashville announces it will build a massive resort and conference center on the north end of the property, but the recession quashes that plan. 2009 — GM closes the proving ground and moves testing operations to Yuma. 2011 — First Solar Inc. of Tempe builds a 1.3 million-square-foot solar-panel manufacturing plant at Signal Butte and Elliot roads. The plant still stands largely vacant. 2012 — DMB renames its development Eastmark and announces that seven builders will offer homes beginning in mid-2013. June 1, 2013 — Scheduled grand opening for Eastmark’s first residential developments.