Entrance to Avimor, at Highway 55/Stapilus |
We've been following the Avimor saga for a while now, for the reason that in the Boise area it's a big deal: It amounts to creating a whole city off the highway between Eagle (just west of Boise) and Horseshoe Bend. It is the biggest of the large planned developments in the Boise foothills, it has progressed substantially, and it could have a big effect (actually various big effects) on development in the area. Its plans contain, we should note, a number of attractive features; there are also a number of drawbacks.
It has not, however, been progressing very rapidly. In February 2006, Avimore's parent, SunCor Development of Arizona, projected that within five years the project would be completed with 684 housing units, a resident population of 1,952, some commercial development and various amenities. In January of this year, three years in, reports surfaced that just six properties apparently had been sold and two families were resident.
Against that background, consider this report from yesterday's Arizona Republic newspaper:
"Pinnacle West Capital Corp.'s real-estate subsidiary, SunCor Development Co., will attempt to sell $400 million in housing developments and golf courses - most of them in Arizona - to reduce debt and focus on commercial building, the company announced Thursday. Arizona Public Service Co. is Pinnacle's main subsidiary, but the smaller SunCor business has been a drag on earnings recently. In the fourth quarter of 2008, SunCor impairment charges of $32.5 million helped push the parent company to a quarterly loss, so the SunCor board of directors voted to sell nearly all of its assets, spokesman Alan Bunnell said."
There's no reference yet to the selloff on the SunCor web site on on Pinnacle's. Possible Avimor isn't on the block. But it looks likely.
And what will happen to it then?
