Longtime Landsea Homes Executive Greg Balen to Oversee Arizona Region

Newport Beach, Calif. —Landsea Homes has announced that longtime executive Greg Balen has been named Regional President, Arizona Division for the company.
“As one of our original Landsea Homes team members, Greg has continuously shown initiative and strategic thought during his long and distinguished career, and keenly understands the importance we place on attention to detail, construction and high-quality customer service,” said Mike Forsum, chief operating officer, Landsea Homes.
He added, “Greg’s homebuilding expertise and leadership ensures that Garrett Walker Homes and Landsea Homes will continue to deliver exceptional best-in-class communities in some of Arizona’s most highly desirable and livable locations.”
“With our strategic expansion plans underway in Arizona, I’m excited about this new opportunity to support our in-market growth while ensuring that we remain true to our commitment to building quality homes and providing unmatched customer service,” said Balen.  “We are very bullish on Arizona and have assembled a great team to provide homebuyers with great opportunities to ‘Live In Their Element’.”
Landsea Homes entered the Arizona market just two years ago with a land purchase for their first community.  Since that time, they have steadily acquired additional lots to boast 19 communities and more than 1,400 lots in Arizona.  The recent acquisition of Garrett Walker Homes, which continues to operate under that well-known brand, added 18 communities (nine actively selling) and more than 1,700 total lots to the portfolio, making Landsea Homes one of the top homebuilders in Arizona.  Last month, Phoenix-based RL Brown research named Landsea Homes as one of the homebuilders building the most affordable homes in Arizona.
“This new position allows Greg to ply his expertise and experience and ensure that we continue to deliver homes that are innovative, best-in-class and a great value for our homebuyers,” noted Forsum.
For more information about Landsea Homes, visit www.landseahomes.com. 
 

 



Solomon: Let’s Talk Fees – City of Tucson Impact Fees

Allyson Solomon, ED, MPA

By: Allyson Solomon, Executive Director, Metropolitan Pima Alliance

In 2011, the Arizona legislature passed comprehensive changes to the state’s development impact fee enabling act, putting in place regulations on how the incorporated municipalities would assess, collect, spend and report their fee program. The legislation put in place more transparent and predictable processes to try to ensure new development only pays a proportionate share for the costs of the new infrastructure. The legislation set up processes by which the fee studies are created and approved before the impact fees are determined, separating out the process into two approvals.

The first approval is for Land Use Assumptions (LUA) and Infrastructure Improvement Plans (IIP). These two legally required documents establish baseline data for development growth and define the projects to be completed with the collected impact fees. The second approval is for the fee amounts, determined by the LUA and IIPs.  Both are approved by the local governing body after a public hearing process.

In the fall of 2018, the City of Tucson began their update, hiring TischlerBise to consult on the process and help develop the City’s LUA and IIP. The City began the first phase with the publishing of their draft reports in August 2019, and will be conducting a Public Hearing on these reports on February 4th with an Adoption Hearing scheduled for March 17th. The second phase will begin with the release of the final adopted Development Impact Fee Report to be shared at the April 21st Public Hearing, and will conclude with the June 9th Adoption Hearing (dates tentative).

The City’s Mayor and Council are currently underway with approving the proposed LUA and IIPs, with the first public hearing occurring on February 4th, 2020. Staff has released to Mayor and Council an updated fee table along with a list of recommended changes to the two reports. MPA has worked closely with both our members to aid City staff in developing these recommendations and has submitted a letter to Mayor and Council, in advance of the Public Hearing, in response to staff’s recommendations.

While MPA has a history of supporting reasonable impact fees, as such MPA understands the purpose of impact fees and the goal of not overburdening existing residents with the costs associated with new growth; however, we will continue to collaborate and to strongly encourage the City to ensure that the policies and fees put into place are not burdensome to development, but rather are fair and equitable.



CBRE Completes $1.5M Sale of Willow Creek Office Complex in Prescott, Ariz.

Willow Creek Medical Center, Prescott, AZ

Phoenix, Arizona – CBRE has completed the sale of Willow Creek Medical Center and two adjacent parcels located at 1000-1020 North Willow Creek Road in Prescott, Ariz. The Property totals ±15,622-square-feet on approximately ±1.49 acres and is 96 percent leased to a diverse collection of healthcare-oriented tenants, including Yavapai Regional Medical Center, Southwest Kidney Institute and West Winds Counseling, among many others.

The property commanded significant investor interest and a sale price of $1.50 million, or approximately $96 per square foot.

Andrew K. Fosberg and Dylan A. Brown with CBRE’s Phoenix office represented both the seller, Spanier Investments, LLC , of Prescott, Arizona and the buyer, Wildcat Investments, LLC, of Phoenix, Arizona.

Developed in 1974, the property is situated directly across the street from Yavapai Regional Medical Center West, Prescott’s premier hospital facility which consists of 134 beds and the nationally-respected James Family Heart Medical Center. The Property is located less than a mile north from the Historic Downtown Prescott trade with excellent frontage along Willow Creek Road, Prescott’s major north-south commuter thoroughfare, which features over 35,000 vehicles per day.

“Willow Creek Medical Center’s historical occupancy coupled with the population growth and aging demographics in the Quad City area drew significant investor interest, said CBRE’s Brown. “The property was incredibly appealing due to its superior location along Willow Creek Road directly across the street from Prescott’s major hospital, Yavapai Regional Medical Center West.”