Two Homebuilders Buy North Valley Land

By: Paul Dionne | Vizzda.com

Carefree 60 Site

Both Pulte and AV Homes acquired land slated for residential development north of Phoenix this week, with Pulte picking up preliminarily platted lots in North Phoenix and AV Homes acquiring final platted lots in Scottsdale. Pulte’s acquisition comes on the heels of their nearly $16m acquisition of three subdivisions in Chandler, Mesa and Phoenix last week, resulting in total acquisition costs for the past two weeks well in excess of $18m for the Bloomfield Hills, MI-based homebuilder. Aside from its take down of Encore at Eastmark as part of a Joint Venture and rolling lots in Estrella Mountain Ranch, this is the first acquisition of residential land by AV Homes in 2014.

Casino Avenue Site

Pulte Homes acquired 13.69 gross acres of raw land northeast of the I-17 and Jomax Road, planned for the Casino Avenue Subdivision. Casino Avenue will feature 43 single-family residences on 11.55 net acres, with typical dimensions of 50’ x 120’. With 2.7 acres of the project designated as open space, the subdivision will have a density ratio of 3.2 density units per acre. The all cash purchase price of $2,550,438 equates to $1,186 per front foot, $59,312 per planned lot or $220,817 per acre. The seller was Ellen Anderson as trustee for the Patrick F Anderson Trust, which has held the land under various ownership structures dating back to 1987.

AV Homes acquired 14.692 acres of raw land located at the southeast corner of 60^th Street and the Carefree Highway, planned for Carefree 60. The final plat for Carefree 60 was approved on May 13^th, 2014 and calls for 42 lots with minimum dimensions of 55’ x 125’ and lot areas that range from 6,800 ft² to 10,053 ft². The project will have a density ratio of 2.8 density units per acre. The purchase price of $2.5m reflects $1,082.25 per front foot, $59,523.81 per lot or $170.161 per acre and was secured by a performance deed of trust with the seller, Beckham Gumbin Ventures. Full scale land development for the site is projected to begin by the end of June, with models opening up in the first quarter of 2015.