Crown West Realty

Inside Tucson Business: News
Roger Yohem, ryohem@azbiz.com

The last remaining undeveloped parcels in the massive 1,350-acre master-planned community of Gladden Farms in Marana have been acquired byPetrus Partners Ltd. of New York at an undisclosed price.

The purchase includes 500 undeveloped residential lots in Gladden Farms Phase I. In the Phase II section, Petrus Partners acquired 370 acres of entitled residential land and 120 acres of commercial property.

The seller was the Forest City Land Group, a subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises Inc., based in Cleveland, Ohio. Forest City launched Gladden Farms in 2003 and developed the master-planned community with attractive amenities such as trails, parks and baseball fields, and a 58-acre hospital campus site.

“We plan to be the new master developer of the community. Petrus is really excited about our presence in Southern Arizona and the opportunities before us,” said Dean Wingert, the new top local executive for Petrus.

For 26 years, Wingert oversaw the development of master-planned communities for Forest City in Tucson, Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, Albuquerque, and Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, Texas. With the closing of the Gladden Farms sale, he has joined Petrus as Vice President of Crown West Realty and will lead the new Crown West Land Group.

Crown West is an affiliate company owned by Petrus Partners.

In addition to he 500 lots in Phase I, Phase II contains entitled lots for 2,345 residential units.

Gladden Farms was originally planned for 3,600 lots. Over the years, about 1,100 homes have been built by national companies such as Richmond American Homes, Lennar and Pulte. Much of the commercial land has been sold.

Petrus Partners Ltd., along with its Crown West Realty affiliate, is a vertically integrated real estate fund management and operating company. One of the firm’s specialties is investing in development projects located in distressed or recovering markets.

Gladden Farms is Petrus Partners’ 13th residential land acquisition in Arizona.