NexMetro Buys in Palm Valley

By: Paul Dionne | Vizzda

Site Plan Rendering for Avilla

A piece of land in the master-planned Palm Valley community that was previously planned for commercial development was acquired from an investor group on Friday and will now be developed as density housing. Tucson-based rental property developer NexMetro Communities paid $2,344,795 or $5.55 per square foot for the northwest hard corner of Falcon Drive and Indian School Road in an all cash deal. The seller was a special purpose entity controlled by Wayne Howard, Joseph Meyer Jr. and Paul Johnson Jr. NexMetro owns or is actively building over 1,000 single family residences for rent in metropolitan Phoenix and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and plans to expand into other sunbelt markets in 2015.

The 9.698-acre graded parcel conveying as Tract P of Palm Valley was platted as Future Commercial Use in 2004 but was rezoned to high density residential following approval from the Town of Goodyear in February of this year. Plans, as submitted, call for 125 courtyard and townhome dwellings comprised of twenty-six one-bedroom units at 636 ft², sixty-two two-bedroom units at 966 ft² and thirty-seven three-bedroom units at 1,244 ft² in freestanding, 1-story buildings totaling 122,396 rentable square feet. There will be 250 parking spaces—including twenty-eight garages—on site and the project is approved for a density of 12.88 density units per acre.

Tract P was previously acquired by a different investor group than the current sellers in February of 2006 for $3,802,086 or $9 per square foot from Suncor Development as master developers of Palm Valley. That sale included $2,471,950 in purchase money debt with Marshall and Ilsley M & I Bank. M & I noticed the property for Trustee Sale in October of 2008, but before it could be foreclosed upon, the current sellers purchased the note and were able to take possession of the property with a $770k credit bid in early 2009. Documents on file with the town of Goodyear indicate that NexMetro has been pursuing re-zoning of the parcel since at least September of last year.

To Contact the Author:

Paul Dionne – pdionne@vizzda.com