The Horizon Blog

Mountains and Trails

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:10:35 +0000

I fell in love with mountains and hiking almost from the first day I arrived in Arizona (1978). I drove to the base of what turned out to be Camelback Mountain, parked my van, and proceeded to bushwhack up the southeast face in my Nike tennis shoes. I now know better than to bushwhack. I labored [...]

Shaw Butte Senior Living readied for financing

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:51:09 +0000

In almost the year since my last post, a number of significant development have taken place which have culminated in Shaw Butte Senior Living becoming ready for its financing effort. A well respected local senior living management company Retirement Community Specialists led by Eric Johnston agreed to join the team and become a partner in [...]

Shaw Butte Village “ABCs”

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:58:49 +0000

Shaw Butte Village is a proposed mixed use senior living project at NEC 19th Ave & Cactus Road in Phoenix. It is a niche infill development that has much more to it than meets the eye. The 7-acres (net) occupies nearly 1/4 mile of street frontage at the foot of Shaw Butte which is part of [...]

CITY APPROVES PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:19:11 +0000

It has been a long road, but on Thursday, January 27, the City of Phoenix Development Services Department approved the Shaw Butte Village preliminary site plan. Of course there a few contingencies, but nothing I did not expect. The official approval report “to-come”. This review and approval came after 3 pre-application meetings, 1 rezoning, 1 zoning [...]

Shaw Butte Village Preliminary Site Plan Submitted, Finally!

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 03:40:07 +0000

Yesterday was a “red-letter day”. After starts and fits, convulsions, excitement, disappointment, numerous challenges overcame and more than $150,000, we submitted the Preliminary Site Plan to the City of Phoenix for review. The plan (with 19th Ave on top) depicts a first phase of 64 assisted living units and 32 memory care units snuggled up against [...]

PHOENIX DAB OVERTURNS CMR DECISION ON GRADING WAIVER

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:22:41 +0000

Shaw Butte Village can now submit preliminary site plan for approval. On November 19, 2010, the City of Phoenix Development Advisory Board (DAB) heard my appeal of the City Manager’s Representative (CMR) decision to deny my request for a Shaw Butte Village grading waiver. The DAB voted 9-3 in favor of my appeal. This was the last [...]

New Market Tax Credit Conference

admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:27:46 +0000

Aka Rocket Science Conference 10/25/2010 Last week, I attended the New Market Tax Credit conference in Chicago. The last session was a panel of tax lawyers, a tax accountant and an investment banker. It dawned on me that this is what a conference of rocket scientists was probably like. X+y2/4mc=? The room was filled with some extremely [...]

Village at Surrey Hills

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:13:13 +0000

As beautiful today as the day I married her. Over the weekend I drove out to Cave Creek to have a look at the Village at Surrey Hills. I was pleasantly surprised. The development had held up exceptionally well. All of the many details I had put into the project were still vividly on display. And the [...]

One Step Closer to Reality

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:41:26 +0000

Hurdles remain. Last month, Visiquest had two more hearings at the City in an effort to fine tune the Shaw Butte Village entitlements. We were successful in both efforts. The zoning adjustment hearing reduced the rear yard building setback to 15’ as requested. The planning hearing made several changes to the zoning [...]

City shows support for Shaw Butte Village trailhead

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:48:48 +0000

I was excited to receive a letter today in the mail from the City of Phoenix Parks Department. In it, Director Dale Larsen writes that the City is supportive of a trailhead location within our Shaw Butte Village development at 19th Ave & Cactus Road. Visiquest wants to create a shared parking lot for the [...]