MCCORMICK RANCH

The McCormick Ranch is Arizona's only new-town-intown project and will probably never be duplicated anywhere in the state.

The entire project 4,236 acres master planned in the neighborhood concept rests within the Scottsdale city limits, with the exception of a small parcel of land on the east which reaches into Maricopa County. There is no known undeveloped parcel of land of this proportion left inside any other city in the state.

The McCormick Ranch was acquired by Kaiser Aetna in one of the most interesting real estate procedures which has ever occurred in Arizona.

The purchase was consumated in a courtroom in May of 1970, when the judge's gavel sounded indicating Kaiser Aetna's final bid of $12.1 million finally out-did its nearest competitor, AVCO Community Developers. It was the result of an auction of the McCormick estate.

Fowler McCormick, president and chairman of the board of International Harvester, was the grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaper. McCormick and his wife, Anne, used the ranch as the site for a breeding operation which produced some of the world's finest purebred Arabian horses and Angus cattle.

Kaiser Aetna has preserved and enhanced the famous Paradise Park Arabian breeding center at the ranch, and today the facilities have been expanded and some 10 professional trainers of more than 150 show horses make the park their home.

The internationally-known show facilities are still the site of the All-Arabian Horse Show each February, and Kaiser Aetna's master plans call for further development around the park of a special Equestrian Village.

There are horse shows at the park nearly every weekend from September through May, and demand for the facilities almost exceeds available dates.

During the past two years, McCormick Ranch development has come a long way.

Where there was unused desert before in the flood-prone Indian Bend Wash, today there is a 36-hole golf course. The wash area was specifically used for the course as part of the overall flood control and drainage system engineering program.

The new McCormick Ranch Golf Clubhouse, a delightful continental restaurant which offers sophisticated country club atmosphere complete with entertainment, is open for public dining. The Clubhouse overlooks Camelback Lake, which fronts on Scottsdale Road, with Camelback Mountain in the background.

The entire Ranch is a developed-for-use project. Kaiser Aetna has installed all master systems and fully prepared residential areas, and has selected specialized home builders who, combined, have either completed or are working on 11 different housing developments in special neighborhoods.

The other "courtroom bidder", AVCO Community Developers, has two projects a patio home community in Paseo Village, and a condominium project which partially fronts on the golf course.

Messenger Corporation has built a condominium community, and Suggs Construction Company, a division of U.S. Home, has single-family, patio home and walled villa neighborhoods built in Paseo Village on the southeast area of the ranch.

Unusually designed "Finnegan Cluster" patio homes have been built by Howard Homes; custom homes are in another area, built by Murdock Real Estate and Development Corporation, and Ponderosa Homes has one project underway, single-family homes in Paseo Village.

Prices for the various homes and condominiums range from $38,000 to over $100,000, which means that both millionaires and middle management can enjoy the amenities of the ranch's lifestyles.

Kaiser Aetna has already completed the first of five phases of development, including 11 miles of paved streets; installation of uniquely-designed street lights and signs; 16 miles of water line; 10 miles of sewer line, plus extensive landscaping of medians, parkways and paseos (Spanish for walkways).

One of the most unique features of the McCormick Ranch at its development completion will be a greenbelt walkway which will traverse the community from the northeast to the southwest, and will incorporate a total system of pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths and equestrian trails.

Tennis courts, community swimming pools and recreation centers are all part of the master plan, as well as small office facilities and community shopping areas, churches and schools.

A new resort hotel, The Inn at McCormick Ranch, is shortly to be built on the property, fronting on Scottsdale Road and overlooking Camelback Lake and the extensive golf course. Other resort hotels will be built in various phases of the development.

In just two and one-half years, Kaiser Aetna has put a capital investment of more than $11 million into the ranch development, excluding the original $12.1 million paid for the land itself.

McCormick Ranch offers a life-style for nearly every interest and income level, and is an outstanding example of thorough community planning within an established municipality.