The ‘Petrus-Crown West Group’ Gladden Farms Acquisition

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Petrus Partners, Ltd., operating in Tucson under the name of Crown West Land Group, concluded its final acquisition of the Gladden Farms master-planned community on March 21st. The acquisition included 487 platted, unimproved lots, there were no finished lots; 335 acres of block-platted residential land with full zoning entitlements, and 123 acres of block-platted commercial land with full zoning entitlements. The entitlements would allow a total of an additional 2,825 single-family and multi-family residential units.

[mepr-show rules=”58038″]Forest City Enterprises, the seller, after making the decision in early 2012 to liquidate all land development projects, sold Gladden Farms for $720,798, that’s seven – hundred – twenty – thousand – seven -hundred -ninety – eight dollars (spelled out only to assure readers it’s no misprint). The price is calculated from multiple public records, Dean Wingert, Senior Vice President of Forest City Land Group and Head of Crown West Land Group would only confirm that “the sum total of the recorded documents would seem unbelievable.” He was right.

Wingert went on to explain, “Gladden Farms sold with a high level of obligations, including monthly payments to the Town of Marana for the road extension work done to the community, bonds & securities, and property taxes; these in addition to the normal impact fees.” For these reasons, “Forest City was a motivated seller.”

Forest City launched Gladden Farms in 2003 and developed attractive amenities including trails, parks, baseball fields and other recreational facilities. It was received with great market enthusiasm as homebuilders constructed about 1,150 finished single-family homes within Gladden Farms, with about another 35 homes currently under construction. Located in Tucson’s Northwest at the west end of the of the Tangerine corridor where lots sales are still brisk. See our Feb 23rd story “Lot Sales Brisk Along Tangerine Corridor” at: https://realestatedaily-news.com.previewdns.com/lot-sales-brisk-along-tangerine-corridor/

Active builders within the community are Richmond American and Pulte; Lennar just finished their current subdivision late last month. There were 54 new homes added within the community last year, and the first 3 months of this year has already produced 23 more new building permits.

Commercial property within Gladden Farms was sold by Forest City to users such as Walgreen’s, Fry’s Food Stores, and a 58-acre campus to Northwest Hospital affiliate, Community Health Systems, Inc (NYSE:CYH) and planned for development once the area’s population justifies.

With the Gladden Farms sale finalized, Dean Wingert joined the Petrus Group as Vice President of Crown West Realty and Head of Crown West Land Group. Wingert brings three decades of experience in residential land development during 26 years with Forest City where he oversaw development of master-planned communities in Tucson, Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Albuquerque and San Antonio. Additionally, O.K. Rihl, Director of New Development at Forest City Land Group has joined Crown West as Development Manager. Crown West’s office is in the former Forest City’s location at 333 E Wetmore Road, Ste 250, in Tucson.

Petrus Partners of New York (Frank Walter, President) the parent company, is a privately held full-service real estate investment, development and management firm with offices in New York City, Phoenix, Denver, Tucson and Spokane. The ‘Petrus Partners-Crown West Group’ manages a series of discretionary investment funds totaling over $300 million of equity including $100 million dedicated to value-added investments in residential land. The Group owns and manages 6,000 residential lots and eight million sq. ft. of office, industrial, and mixed-use properties nationwide.

Petrus is interested in acquiring additional investment opportunities in residential lots and entitled and un-entitled land in Arizona, Nevada, and California.

For additional details about Gladden Farms, including lot acquisition opportunities, contact Wingert at (520) 888-3962 or email to dwingert@crownwest.com.

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