Del Webb's newest active-adult community open to buyers
Sun City Festival in Buckeye
Maura J. Halpern
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 5, 2006 12:00 AM
Interested home buyers now can secure a home in Del Webb's newest active-adult
community, Sun City Festival.
Before Saturday, prospective residents could buy homes only by appointment,
but sales are now open to the public.
The 3,100-acre master-planned community in Buckeye will feature 7,200
homes and two 18-hole golf courses.
Included is a 31,000-square-foot recreation center that will feature
an outdoor amphitheater, a resort-style pool, bocce courts and facilities
for other activities.
Until models open in July, buyers can visit a preview center in Sun City
Grand to view floor-plan displays and high-tech virtual presentations.
Sun City Festival's first closings are scheduled for October, and residents
will begin moving in around the same time.
Wayne and Barbara Hagerman were among the first to buy a home in the
new development.
They signed up on an online interest list in December and purchased a
two-bedroom home that "fit the script" in February.
"We wanted to get in on the ground floor of something that was just
starting up," Wayne Hagerman said. "We'll be able to watch it
(the community) grow and see how it comes together."
The couple used to live in an active-adult development but moved to an
all-ages gated community in Surprise.
"We missed all of the amenities and the level of interaction with
others our age," Hagerman said.
Another lure to Sun City Festival was the upgrades offered as standards,
such as granite countertops and an extended garage.
Hagerman said the emergence of new active-adult developments caters to
a large demographic moving to metropolitan Phoenix.
"It's indicative of the baby boomers heading into retirement, and
Del Webb is pro-active in providing communities for this population,"
he said. "It fits into the profile they've already created."
By the end of the year, Pulte Homes and its Del Webb brand will unveil
23 new active-adult communities around the country, including Sun City
Anthem at Merrill Ranch near Florence.
Sun City Festival's rooftops will be completed in seven years, but the
amenities will open next year.
Del Webb's legacy in the West Valley dates to 1960 with the inaugural
Sun City. Sun City West followed in 1978, and Sun City Grand opened in
1996.
"All of the Sun Cities in the West Valley have gotten more and more
successful, so it was time to open the fourth," said Ed Martin, vice
president of sales for Pulte's West Valley Division. "And the location
we picked for this one is probably the most picturesque."
In January, Pulte scooped up 4,100 acres east of the Sun Valley Parkway
to build a third all-ages Anthem community in the Valley.
"This area will be a city someday," Martin said. "All
of that land is either spoken for or is being entitled, so we were fortunate
to get in early
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