The first guest hasn’t checked into the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel yet. A developer, however, is crafting plans for an even bigger hotel in Mesa.

A Nashville firm plans to build a Mesa resort conference center with 1,250 to 1,500 guest rooms.

Arizona Republic reporter Gary Nelson reports: 

"Nashville-based Gaylord Hotels will build one of its signature properties on the north end of land now occupied by the General Motors Desert Proving Ground. Paired with a high-end golf course and retail amenities, it is designed to pull people - and eventually business - into the area surrounded by Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport," Nelson wrote.

"Details on the size and cost of the resort are still being worked out, said Colin Reed, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gaylord Entertainment Co., parent company of the hotel firm," Nelson reported.

Gaylord plans to invest "north of three-quarters of a billion dollars," in the Mesa development, Reed said.

(Snip)

"Gaylord owns several entertainment venues in Nashville, including the Grand Ole Opry… Gaylord’s newest, the Gaylord National, opened this year on 41 acres along the Potomac River in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., and is billed as the largest hotel/conference center on the East Coast. It has an 18-story atrium with a nightclub on the top floor," Nelson wrote.

 Read the full story here.