Land coming together for West Valley development

The Business Journal of Phoenix - April 5, 2006
by Chris Casacchia
The Business Journal

Weinstein & Harris LLC has brokered the closing of the second of four Goodyear land deals being assembled by AREAD Inc. of Scottsdale for its proposed 2,347-acre, 7,000-lot residential development, Rainbow Valley Ranch.

The 1,365-acre property closed Wednesday for $34.1 million and Harvard Investments Inc. of Scottsdale was the seller. The four sales that make up the project, all brokered by the Scottsdale real commercial real estate brokerage firm, will carry a total price tag of $60.3 million.

The first portion of Rainbow Valley Ranch, 253 acres, closed last October.

The third portion, 490 acres, was sold to AREAD for $17 million and is expected to close in May. The final 240-acre parcel was sold for $7.2 million and will close in 2007.

Rainbow Valley Ranch will be an exclusively themed master-planned community, surrounded in part by the backdrop of the Estrella Mountains. A mixture of single-family housing, multi-family housing and a commercial component are planned, as well as a variety of recreational amenities.

"Rainbow Valley will be a leading growth area for the new southwest Valley over the next three to 10 years, similar to how Ahwatukee and Mountain Park Ranch drove growth along the I-10 corridor in the southeast Valley," said Weinstein & Harris principal Howard Weinstein.

The Rainbow Valley Ranch property is bisected by Riggs Road and is bounded on the north by Chandler Heights Rd., on the south by Hunt Highway, on the east by Sarival Road and on the west by Rainbow Valley Road.

AREAD intends to annex all of the land into Goodyear and take the property through the entitlement process. The company expects to sell developed lots to multiple home builders in 2007.

Founded in 2004, Weinstein & Harris completed its first year with more than $100 million in closed sales and more than $1.4 billion in pending escrows and exclusive listings.