AZBigMedia
Crown Realty & Development, a renowned California-developer behind significant projects in Arizona, through controlled affiliates, has closed on 96.5 acres and acquired the “Master Developer” rights in North Phoenix’s Desert Ridge master-planned community. The property and rights have been the subject of active litigation and bankruptcy for a decade. Crown now plans to develop the land as a new urban core in Phoenix.
Crown’s winning bid for the land was $54 million while the Bankruptcy Court had previously valued the land as high as $121 million.
The acquired acreage comprises the majority of the vacant land east of the 1.2 million square foot Desert Ridge Market Place and that surrounds the existing High Street. The land Crown has acquired is zoned for about 2,500 residential units, 2 million square feet of office, 500 hotel rooms and 100,000 square feet of retail.
“Unlocking this parcel from years of litigation now provides the opportunity to develop a 21st-century urban community on the north side of Phoenix,” said Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown. “What Century City was to Los Angeles in the 1960s, the new City North project will be to Phoenix,” he said.
