Shea Homes has plopped down $106 million for 714.2 acres across the Valley over the past few months, according to Tempe-based Vizzda LLC real estate database.
Plans call for building more than 1,200 homes on these vacant parcels, said Ken Peterson, Arizona vice president of sales and marketing for Shea Homes.
These land deals add to two other acquisitions at Storyrock in north Scottsdale, where Shea Homes paid $8.56 million for 33.89 acres last October at the northeast corner of 128th Street and Ranch Gate Road and another $6.61 million for 34.08 acres in March 2021, according to Vizzda.
Shea Homes is building model homes for its Reserves at Storyrock, with sales expected to begin this fall for 35 homes. Then, for the land purchased last October, plans call for building 24 homes at Signature at Storyrock. Its first community, called Prelude at Storyrock, sold out during its first year, Peterson said.
Those homes will be built on about an acre, and will range between 3,800 and 5,000 square feet, with starting prices north of $2 million, he said.
“Half of the home sites are surrounded by natural, open space,” he said. “Basically, there’s a natural desert between each of the home sites.”
Construction for the other recently purchased parcels is expected to begin in 2023.
“The Shea family is extremely supportive of the metro Phoenix area,” Peterson said. “We plan to be here for a very long time. We continue to look for land opportunities across the Valley to maintain a constant growth.”
With homes priced anywhere between $500,000 and $5 million, Shea Homes is targeting to close on between 450 and 500 homes a year, he said.
“We’re very bullish on the Phoenix market,” he said. “We’re going to have positive growth for the next decade, as evidenced by our population growth, employment opportunities and new manufacturing coming across the Valley.”
As the Valley’s housing market cools amid rising mortgage interest rates, Peterson said he isn’t worried about oversupplying the housing market.
“There is definitely not a frenzy,” he said. “I feel we’re getting back to a more normalized market.”
While Phoenix residents feel sticker shock with rising home prices, others across the country are accustomed to higher prices, and are willing to leave those markets for better deals in Phoenix, with bigger homes on larger parcels, he said.
“We have so many people migrating from all over the country where the average sales price is much higher, we look very attractive with the pricing,” he said.
Here’s a closer look at Shea Homes’ most recent land deals over the past few months:
Location: SEC Crismon and Williams Field roads in an unincorporated area of Maricopa County
Acres: 144
Price: $36.48M
Seller: Levine Investments
Buyer: Shea Homes
Date closed: 6/1/2022
Plans: Plans call for building 588 homes within Avalon Crossing master-planned community, which is planned for 1,200 residential units and between 100,000 and 250,000 square feet of nonresidential development. A new 30-wide series will offer a more affordable option, with homes ranging between 1,875 to 2,530 square feet. Construction will begin in March 2023, with sales to begin later that fall.
Location: NEC 83rd and Northern avenues, Peoria
Acres: 50.68
Price: $8.5M
Seller: Rovey Farms
Buyer: Shea Homes
Date closed: 5/4/2022
Plans: Construction on model homes will begin in late 2023 for 167 homes in the first phase, with sales to begin in 2024. The entire development will include 920 lots on 285.16 acres among three phases. Homes will be in the 2,000-to-3,000-square-foot range.
Location: S/SEC 56th Street and Lone Mountain Road, Cave Creek
Acres: 27.96
Price: $8.5M
Seller: Alice Opal Arnold
Buyer: Shea Homes
Date closed: 4/1/2022
Plans: Construction of models will begin in February 2023, with sales to begin that summer for 51 homes starting at 3,800 square feet and over 4,000 square feet.
Location: S/SWC Germann and Crismon roads, Queen Creek
Acres: 38.55
Price: $8.53M
Seller: Jacob Jorde
Buyer: Shea Homes
Date closed: 4/7/2022
Plans: Plans call for building 176 homes.
Location: Parcels 4, 10 & 11 N/NWC 67th Avenue and Jomax Road, Peoria
Acres: 80.37
Price: $15.85M
Seller: Shea Homes
Buyer: JEN Partners
Date closed: 3/4/2022
Plans: Originally winning a state land auction bid in December 2020 for a 415-acre parcel near Aloravita, the $46.77 million deal closed on March 4, which is when Shea Homes entered into a joint development agreement with Pulte Homes and JEN Partners for Aloravita North Phase III, which will include 247 homes. Overall at Aloravita, 741 homes will be built on 410.41 acres.
Location: Parcels 12 & 16 N/NWC 67th Avenue and Jomax Road, Peoria
Acres: 73.19
Price: $17.09M
Seller: Shea Homes
Buyer: Pulte Group Inc.
Date closed: 3/4/2022
Plans: Originally winning a state land auction bid in December 2020 for a 415-acre parcel near Aloravita, the $46.77 million deal closed on March 4, which is when Shea Homes entered into a joint development agreement with Pulte Homes and JEN Partners for Aloravita North Phase III, which will include 247 homes. Overall at Aloravita, 741 homes will be built on 410.41 acres.
Source: Vizzda LLC
Meanwhile, other homebuilders also are gobbling up land across the Valley.
Scottsdale-based Camelot Homes paid $13.86 million for 77.5 acres southeast of the southeast corner of Cave Creek Road and Lone Mountain Parkway in Scottsdale, according to Vizzda.
Buying the land from an entity tracing to William J. Counts, that deal closed on April 5, according to Vizzda.
Plans call for breaking ground for a 52-home community called Joy Ranch during the second quarter of 2023.
Homes will range between 4,500 and 6,500 square feet, and will include four to six bedrooms and 4.5 to 6.5 bathrooms. They will be similar to Camelot’s award-winning White Horse and Bronco communities.
Here’s a look at where other homebuilders bought land recently:
Parcel: Sonoran Sky
Location: SEC Pinnacle Peak Road and 122nd Street
Acres: 39.86
Price: $6.3M
Seller: Elizabeth S Belsher
Date closed: 6/24/2022
Parcel: Rancho Mercado
Location: E//NEC 163rd Avenue and Happy Valley Road, Surprise
Finished lots: 37
Price: $2.9M
Seller: Brookfield Residential Properties
Date closed: 6/24/2022
Parcel: Bella Vista Farms
Location: N/NEC Gantzel and Bella Vista roads, San Tan Valley
Finished lots: 15
Price: $1.23M
Seller: Coronado West
Date closed: 6/16/2022
Parcel: Pepper Tree & Selma
Location: N/NEC Montgomery and I-8, Casa Grande
Acres: 209.27
Price: $2.54M
Seller: Todd R. Slusher
Date closed: 6/16/2022
Parcel: Liberty 1A & 1B
Location: NEC 27th and Southern avenues, Phoenix
Finished lots: 13
Price: $924,712
Seller: AGWIP Asset Management
Date closed: 6/21/2022
Parcel: Northern Crossing
Location: N/NEC Northern Avenue and Cotton Lane, Waddell
Finished lots: 8
Price: $568,748
Seller: AGWIP Asset Management
Date closed: 6/21/2022
Parcel: Harvest Queen Creek
Location: N/NWC Gary Road and Empire Boulevard, Queen Creek
Finished lots: 5
Price: $462,235
Seller: AGWIP Asset Management
Date closed: 6/21/2022
Parcel: Carver Mountain South
Location: NE/NEC 43rd Avenue and Carver Road, Phoenix
Platted/engineered lots: 120
Price: $5.25M
Seller: Montage Acquisitions
Date closed: 6/16/2022
Parcel: 539th & Lower Buckeye
Location: SWC 539th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road, Tonopah
Acres: 239.8
Price: $1.02M
Seller: Harquahala 240 LLC/Kent Green
Date closed: 6/15/2022
Parcel: 39824/39871 N. Quintero Lane, Morristown
Location: N/NWC Quintero Lane and Morristown New River Highway, Morristown
Acres: 6.72
Price: $645,675
Seller: Richard P. Lanoue
Date closed: 6/16/2022
Source: Vizzda LLC
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