With blessings of the Southeastern Arizona Governments Organization (SEAGO) and a 3 to 1 majority of supporters at the Benson City Council Meeting Monday night, the Master Planned Community of “The Villages at Vigneto” a 12,300-acre master-planned community with 28,000 homes planned within the City of Benson, passed unanimously. El Dorado Holdings is the developer for the project.
Forecasts are that the Villages at Vigneto will re-ignite the struggling Benson and Cochise County economies and create an estimated 16,350 jobs at the height of construction and $79.6 million in cash surplus to the City of Benson, according to a US Economic Research report and covered in Real Estate Daily News October, 2015.
The Villages at Vigneto will certainly be the largest economic driving force in Southern Arizona. Located directly to the south of The Canyons where 55-60 homes are already built. El Dorado will build into the retirement community a golf course with rec center and golf club, and a recreational Village Center as part of the upfront development, with houses to be delivered simultaneously.
Mike Reinbold, project manager for the Villages at Vigneto with El Dorado, told us that with this major milestone completed, final engineering and architectural plans can begin. Infrastructure construction should begin as early as next summer and first move-ins are expected as early as 3 years from now, Reinbold estimated.
“The Council should be commended for doing an excellent job Monday night at the meeting, and allowing time for all members of the public to be heard,” Reinbold said.
Each year, the City of Benson with slightly over 5,000 residents swells to an estimated 32,000 people, with winter visitors from Canada and cold states who inhabit the 16,000 RV spaces in Benson. Such rapid growth of people seems to agree well with this historic town, only 45 miles southeast of Tucson in Cochise County.