D.R. HORTON PAYING $80 MILLION FOR PRIME SITE TARGETED FOR 700-LOT ARABELLA COMMUNITY

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PHOENIX – Already flush with land and lots in the northeast Phoenix area targeted for 1,600 + residences, D.R. Horton Inc. in Phoenix (Kim Oium, division pres.) is acquiring a 121.7-acre tract surrounding the northeast corner of Tatum Boulevard and Bell Road that has zoning approval for 706 homes. According to plans on file in the City of Phoenix, the gated community called Arabella will have 420 single-family detached residences and 286, attached duplex units in a three-phase development. The homes will be connected through a series of trails, sidewalks and common areas, including a nearly 5-acre central amenity with a clubhouse, fitness center and pool complex. While representatives of D.R. Horton are not commenting on the pending land acquisition, sources say the builder is paying $80 million ($657,354 per acre) to buy the property. The cash transaction, scheduled to close later this month, is being brokered through Nate Nathan, Dave Mullard, Courtney Buck and Casey Christensen of Nathan & Associates Inc. in Scottsdale. Located just north of the Town of Paradise Valley and west of the City of Scottsdale, the site was annexed into Phoenix in 1994 and is mostly vacant except a horse stable and single-family home still occupied by the seller. Maricopa County records show the land is owned by two entities formed by the Jean M. Marley Family Trust in Scottsdale (Jean Marley, trustee). Beneficiaries include Jean Marley and her sons, Jason Wesley of Scottsdale and Justin Wesley of Hermosa Beach, Calif. Described as one of the largest privately-owned undeveloped infill sites remaining inside of the Loop 101, the prime acreage has drawn interest from several Valley home builders. Public records show 80 + acres located along the west side of 52^nd Street between Grovers Avenue on the north and Bell Road on the south is held by the Jean M. Marley Family Trust, and a connecting 40.13-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Tatum Boulevard and Grovers Avenue is owned by JLEY Investors Limited Partnership (Jean Marley trust, Jason Wesley, Justin Wesley, members). Of the 420 single-family residences that are planned, there are three lot products with 242 home sites averaging 3,750 sq. ft. (50x75), 142 averaging 5,400 sq. ft. (45x120) and 36 averaging 9,600 sq. ft. (80x20). The 286 duplex units are planned on 27 acres that surround the 412-unit IMT Desert Ridge apartments that are located on the east and north sides of a retail plaza anchored by a Fry’s Food & Drug at the northeast corner of Bell Road and Tatum Boulevard. Roughly 20 percent of the Arabella community will be open space and common areas with a host of amenities for recreational uses, including game courts, a putting green and swimming pool. Plans also include a tot lot, and a picnic area with barbeques and ramadas. No word on construction timetable, product or pricing. D.R. Horton in Phoenix, a division of D.R. Horton Inc. in Arlington, Tex. (NYSE:DHI), is both the state and the nation’s largest home builder. While the publicly-traded company has primarily been known for building entry level housing in the Phoenix market, the company has been buying some of the Valley’s priciest residential land targeted for production homes. The cost of the Marley property  translates to a raw unit cost of $113,314 per home site. Including the infrastructure improvements and other costs associated with finishing the home sites, D.R. Horton will likely have an average of $150,000 per unit as a land basis for every residence the company builds within Arabella. Although it is smaller by comparison, D.R. Horton has to be encouraged by the success it is enjoying at its Paradise Ridge community located a few miles to the northeast. That 262-unit project, at the southeast corner of Mayo Boulevard and 66^th Street in Phoenix, is being developed on a 70-acre site D.R. Horton acquired from the Arizona State Land Department. Since beginning pre-sales a year ago, the builder has sold 100 homes priced from $550,000 to $950,000. That community figures to be completed in short order as D.R. Horton is spec building 200 of the residences at Paradise Ridge. Having paid $21.85 million ($310,546 per acre) to buy the property at Paradise Ridge, D.R. Horton’s raw land cost per unit of $83,397 is almost $30,000 per  lot less than what the company is paying for Arabella. In addition to the 968 residences D.R. Horton plans to construct at Arabella and Paradise Ridge, the builder has two other planned communities in the northeast Phoenix area targeted for another 1,400 homes. D.R. Horton controls a 259-acre parcel located on the east side of the 5,700-acre Desert Ridge master-planned community in Phoenix that is approved by the City of Phoenix for up to 903 single-family and multi-family residences in a community being called Talinn. D.R. Horton is expected to sell a parcel within Talinn to its multi-family development division and some larger single-family lots to another home builder. In a fourth master-planned community D.R. Horton is developing in North Phoenix called Stone Butte (formerly known as Hillstone), the builder intends to construct roughly 500 residences on 265 acres located about two miles north of the Loop 101 at the north end of Cave Buttes Dam Road at Cave Creek Road. Find out more from Patrick Brown, v.p. of land acquisition and development at D.R. Horton, by calling (480) 483-0006. Blake Davis, D.R. Horton manager of acquisition, is at (480) 368-1041. Reach the Nathan & Associates agents at (480) 367-0700.