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Scottsdale Developer Rolls Out Plans for $3.6B Master-Planned Community

By January 5, 2023January 17th, 2023No Comments

By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal

Scottsdale-based El Dorado Holdings Inc. has plopped down $82.7 million for 4,150 acres of vacant land at a time when the economy has caused land deals to come to a screeching halt.

Plans call for developing a master-planned community that will include 12,000 homes as well as commercial space, including industrial and retail, on the site that’s an hour’s drive southeast of Phoenix.

Currently called Merrill Ranch, the project represents between $600 million and $700 million in infrastructure costs and $3.6 billion in home sales, said Jim Kenny, a partner with El Dorado Holdings.

The two parcels are within the town of Florence, near growing employment hubs in the area, including Procter & Gamble’s manufacturing plant and Nikola’s factory in Coolidge as well as Lucid Group Inc.’s (Nasdaq: LCID) campus and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s semiconductor suppliers in Casa Grande.

The proximity to Phoenix-Mesa-Gateway Airport in Mesa and its growing employment hub also was a reason this area appealed to Mike Ingram, founder of El Dorado Holdings.

“It’s a perfect timing for a major new master plan,” Ingram said.

As the Valley continues to mature, it’s starting to develop potential employment centers outside of Phoenix, said Chris Grogan, a partner at El Dorado.

“A lot of longtime Arizona people still wonder who would live that far from Phoenix, but if you’re working at one of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s new industrial campuses, it’s seven minutes away and you may not be that interested in where downtown Phoenix is,” Grogan said.

The proposed North-South Corridor would run through the property, providing quick transportation to major employment hubs. The North-South Corridor spans more than 50 miles between U.S. 60 in Apache Junction and Interstate 10 in Eloy, passing through Coolidge and Florence, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Even without the proposed North-South Corridor, it’s a 10 to 15-minute drive on State Route 287 between Merrill Ranch and Phoenix-based Nikola’s manufacturing plant in Coolidge.

The acquisition of this property comes at a time when El Dorado’s other master-planned communities in the southeast submarket are either sold out or well underway.

“This is the next opportunity as you continue down the corridor,” Grogan said.

Bella Vista Farms and Arizona Farms each have about 1,000 acres left for development, Kenny said, adding to the 4,000 acres of Merrill Ranch in that southeast submarket.

“We would like to think that El Dorado, while we don’t have a monopoly on that market, we can become a steady, reliable provider of choice for lots to builders,” Kenny said. “They can have a one-stop shop here and can pick up a number of different locations that are in the same area but wouldn’t be in direct competition with each other. We hope to make their lives a little bit easy.”

It will be three or four years before the first homeowner moves into the community, Ingram said.

“We’re starting right now on the planning, meeting with the city and others in the area,” Kenny said. “We’re probably a couple years from being ready to put a shovel in the ground.”

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