Its history--which involved the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, a former religious teacher, and most recently, a real estate advisor accused with ties to organized crime--is one of the most interesting in the metro area, says Mosko. In the mid-1980s, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. acquired the property from the failed San Marino Savings and Loan of CA, which lent $18 million, or $28,777 an acre, in 1983 to Nu-West Development Corp., the US subsidiary of a once-large Canadian home builder. "This is the property where all of the hotels near DIA should have gone," Mosko believes. "It provides a lot better access right off Pena Boulevard. than the hotels on Tower Road. But it got caught up in that FDIC debacle, and was never developed in a timely fashion, like it should have been."

The land, totaling 443 acres in 1995, was purchased by Shaul Baruch, a Texan who held a doctorate in rabbinical studies. Baruch's company, Dallas-based Masterex Texas Investments and Development, paid $3.95 million for the land or roughly $9,000 per acre. In 1996, he sold Parkfield to American Realty Trust, a Dallas-based REIT, for about $8.5 million, according to public records. American Realty, in turn, sold off parcels to Pulte Homes and Legacy Partners, which built an apartment complex on the land.

Then, the sledgehammer fell again in June when Gene Phillips, a director and investment advisor to American Realty, was charged as part of a mammoth securities racketeering fraud case. The investigation has netted 120 prominent people who are allegedly linked to a scheme involving five organized crime families accused of infiltrating Wall Street. The nationwide stock fraud has caused more than $50 million in stock losses, according to the government.

American Realty wasn't charged, but its stock has been hurt because of the Phillips' ties. "We got a call (from American Realty) saying they were getting margin calls and they had to sell the land quickly to come up with cash," says Mosko. "They said they need to sell in a time frame of 30 days." Within a month, Mosko and Kboudi found a buyer and simultaneously began lining up deals with Del West and Engle Homes. "It was a Herculean task," assesses Mosko. "It was really something to watch. It was like a Rube Goldberg puzzle. If one piece didn't fit, the whole thing would have come apart.