Two Golf Courses Change Hands for Eight Figures

VIZZDA—August 7^th, 2013 — FireRock Golf and Country Club in Fountain Hills and the Arizona Golf Resort in Mesa were sold last week for a combined price of $11.8m. Both of these assets pricing in the seven figure range is atypical for golf assets, which typically transact in the low six figure range. Though the circumstances of the transactions were quite different, high valuations for recreational assets such as golf courses and resorts bode well for the Phoenix-area real estate market.

The first of these properties to change hands was FireRock, a 7,001 yard, par-72 course designed by Gary Pank in 1999 and boasting a 2-story 29,058 ft² clubhouse. The sale price of $5.5m was furnished by the members of the club, who voted to buy out the original developers, MCO Properties, earlier this month. The vote was a response to professional golfer, Phil Mickelson, placing a bid on the property. More information on the circumstances of this sale can be found in this article from the Fountain Hills Times.

The Arizona Golf Resort is a 187-room golf resort with 54 condo units built in 1967 and renovated in 2004. The resort features an 18-hole, par-71 golf course that was completed in 1962. The property sits on roughly 120 acres at the southeast corner of Broadway and Power Roads. The $6.3m acquisition by Dr. Matthew Luxenberg represents a steep decline from a previous purchase price of $22.305m in April of 2007. Following default on a $19.2m CMBS note with JP Morgan Chase, the property reverted at trustee sale for $5,900,783 in August of 2010.

By:

Paul Dionne

Director of Analytics

Vizzda.com