Happy New Years! Attesa Looking Forward to Leading Pinal County Growth for Next Decade.

The team behind Attesa is coming out of the last turn and headed for the entitlements finish line. We plan to break ground this summer and from then on, we’re going to help lead an economic boon in central Arizona.

It’s almost New Years, we’ve survived 2017 and if the recent past is any indication, next year (and the year after that, and the years after that) are going to be very, very good. Not just for Attesa, though. We believe the future for the people in Casa Grande, Maricopa and Eloy, and all of Pinal County, and the State of Arizona, and local, national and international car makers and racing teams and motorsports series, is so darn bright everyone will have to wear shades.

In early December our Marketing Director, Bill Tybur and I attended the Race Track Business Conference at the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis. Yes, it was cold outside. Inside the massive Convention Center, however, the reception we received was warm and friendly. Just as it was last year and the year before.

Interest and enthusiasm for Attesa is high. Racers, manufacturers and performance companies well understand how a new circuit in Arizona will be of benefit to their sport or business. We don’t have snow and rain is as rare as hen’s teeth. Most existing tracks are completely booked up for test days while others are so old (meaning narrow or bumpy) they can’t really accommodate today’s vehicles driven to their true potential. Our location, just hours from San Diego and Las Vegas, and less than an hour from Phoenix, offers proximity to both Interstate 8 and Interstate 10. There’s rail nearby. And we’re going to have our own, private air strip that can handle planes up to 737 -size.

We’ve been attending the RTBC and PRI show since 2015 as we work through the entitlements, the paperwork and red tape associated with building a 2500-acre, billion-dollar motorsports and transportation design community. Others have shown up at the show, with plans or a fancy video presentation of their new race track at the ready, only to be seen once and then never heard from again.

That’s not us. We knew this was going to be a long haul and remain more committed than ever, especially since we’re so close to starting construction.

The only downside from our trip to PRI this year was the schedule. Bill and I were out of town on Friday, December 8, so we missed Elliott Pollack’s annual economic forecast for Pinal County at a Pinal County Partnership breakfast meeting.

Dan Erickson and Lisa Mitchell attended and let us know that the always-highly-anticipated forecast, prepared by one of the nation’s leading real estate and economic consulting firms, was nothing but positive. You can read a write-up of the forecast, as published in the Casa Grande Dispatch, here.  Highlights of Pollack’s presentation include how Pinal County has bounced back from the 2008 recession better than the rest of Arizona, with a stronger population growth and greater percentage of lost jobs that have been recovered.

He noted how the County’s economic growth has expanded significantly since the recession, with no signs of it slowing down, and how propositions passed in the recent election, and the new transportation infrastructure that will come with them will provide the necessary infrastructure to meet the growth.

And here’s his money quote: “You have so many things in the pipeline that they all don’t have to happen,” Pollack said. “PhoenixMart, the Attesa motor sports park, Dreamport Villages. If one of them happens it will bring in so many jobs it will be a game changer for you guys. If two of them happen, you’re in a boom that will last several years.”

That’s us. We can’t speak about any of the other developments but Attesa is projected to eventually create more than 15,000 jobs and provide almost $1.8 billion in economic output upon buildout.

Now we just have to start moving dirt and building our infrastructure. Fortunately, we all received a nice pre-Christmas present that should make that happen sooner than later.

On Thursday, December 21st, the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended our project be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote. That hearing should take place within the next 60 days.

Optimism is high around here. Thanks to our world-class team of lawyers, engineers, designers, planners, PR experts and others, we believe our new motorsports community and international entertainment destination – in the heart of the Arizona Sun Corridor — is about to grow roots and begin thriving.