Paradise Valley landowner sells 27 acres for lower offer of $42M to ensure fewer homes built

A 27-acre vacant parcel in the heart of Paradise Valley has sold for $42 million.

But don’t expect as many houses to be built on the site as the number of acres, as is customary in this wealthy enclave. The previous longtime owner requested a legal agreement to make the lots bigger, so fewer houses would be built.

The land was bought by former Dial Corp. CEO John Teets Jr. and his wife, Nancy, for $6 million 30 years ago to preserve their home’s mountain views. The Teets family sold the property to the new owner, a Delaware LLC called PV27.

It’s the largest parcel of undeveloped land in Paradise Valley, which requires residences to be built on one-acre lots or bigger. The Teets insisted on a recorded restrictive covenant that requires 1.8-acre minimum lot sizes, where zoning otherwise would have permitted one-acre lots, according to the family's attorney. Larger parcels or no division of the land is possible.

The property had been on the market for $55 million. There were higher bids for the land, but it was important to the owners to be good stewards of the property and preserve more of it, said Joan Levinson of Realty ONE Group, the luxury real estate agent who sold it to the Teets. She has the listing for the land.

Information about what will be developed on the site isn’t yet available.

A statement from the Teets family said it was “foregoing much higher offers from buyers who would have subdivided the parcel into one-acre lots, and instead held out for a buyer who would agree to lower-density future development."

Also, the purchase agreement says the new owner will not do any site work for at least a year or any above-ground construction for at least two years.

The land is near Paradise Valley Country Club and has views of Mummy Mountain and the Phoenix Mountains Preserve.

“The owners wanted a buyer that will build something to make the neighborhood and Paradise Valley proud,” Levinson said.

She said the land sale is the highest price ever recorded on the multiple listing service in metro Phoenix.

Teets led the Dial and Greyhound corporations in the 1980s and 1990s.

Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8040. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @CatherineReagor .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Paradise Valley landowner sells 27 acres for lower offer of $42M to ensure fewer homes built