By Steve Burks | AzBigMedia
(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Crown Realty and Development.)
One simple, obvious question kicked off the process that unlocked thousands of acres of land in North Phoenix and cleared the way for what could be years of economic development in the City of Phoenix.
“We were standing on top of the big parking structure up (at High Street) and looking out over all of the vacant land up there,” said Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development of his visit to the property in 2016. “I said to everybody, ‘What’s going on there?’ And there were all of these blank stares and no one seemed to know.”
Rick Carpinelli, who runs the Crown Realty & Development operations in Phoenix, uncovered a string of legal activity that stretched back almost a decade. Crown and its advisors waded into the legal weeds that had entangled this property and after three years of work, came out on the other side as owners of a 96.5-acre parcel of land adjacent to the High Street mixed-use development at Desert Ridge. Crown also was granted “master developer” rights for not only that 96.5-acre site, but also 5,700 acres of land that runs along the Loop 101, stretching from 64th Street in the east to Black Mountain in the West. That’s approximately five square miles in the City of Phoenix’s highest-growth corridor.
