Pulte buys Buckeye land
Builder to pay at least $70 mil for parcels

Glen Creno
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 7, 2006 12:00 AM

Pulte Homes is spending at least $70 million for a big chunk of land west of the White Tank Mountains in Buckeye and will build one of its signature all-ages Anthem communities there.

Pulte put its first Arizona Anthem north of Phoenix and is developing another near Florence. The Buckeye project makes three, and there is some talk that Pulte also wants to build an Anthem-style community in Benson southwest of Tucson.

Pulte bought or bought options on several parcels of land totaling about 4,100 acres east of the Sun Valley Parkway between Missouri and Northern avenues. The new community will be part of the Sun Valley area of Buckeye. Sun Valley will be a major focus for Phoenix-area homebuilding for decades to come.

"It's a beautiful, natural environment, well positioned to the mountains," said Mike Brilz, vice president for land development for Pulte. "I think it will work great."

Pulte declined to specify how much it was paying for the land. Brilz said the amount was something less than $100 million, though the deal with just one of the sellers came to about $70 million.

In any case, it's another major land sale in the West Valley. It comes on the heels of the $312 million sale of the DaimlerChrysler proving grounds to two home builders and a mall developer and underscores the region's position as a key part of the future of Phoenix-area housing.

Brilz said the Buckeye land is zoned for 12,500 units. It will contain an all-ages Anthem community with an active-adult component that will not carry Pulte's Sun City brand. Pulte is building Sun City Festival in the northern part of the Sun Valley area. Pulte also is developing property in the Tartesso master-planned community in Sun Valley, where the first homes in the area are under construction.

The Sun Valley Parkway that cuts through the center of the region used to be called the Road to Nowhere because it was built on the wrong assumption that the area would boom in the '80s. Now, the area is in play as metro Phoenix's housing market pushes further to the frontiers and buyers seek affordable homes.

"The dominos are starting to fall but the supply (of homes) is pretty small right now," said Richard Chapman, Buckeye's economic development director.

The land Pulte bought for its Buckeye Anthem is part of Sun Valley South.

At least 50 percent of all the new homes to go up in metro Phoenix during the next few years will be in the West Valley, according to housing analysts.

"West of the White Tanks is going to become a whole new city," said Nate Nathan of the Scottsdale-based land brokerage firm Nathan & Associates. "Tartesso, Festival Ranch, Douglas Ranch and Belmont Ranch are all anchoring this new city."

Greg Vogel of Arizona Land Advisors said development is currently planned on 110,000 acres in Sun Valley, the area west of the White Tanks.

He said 260,000 home are planned so far in the emerging suburb.

It will take at least three decades for all of those houses to be built.