Phoenix-based NZ Corporation (AMEX:NZ), formerly known at the New Mexico and Arizona Land Company, sold a 10-acre parcel at the corner of Cooper and Warner in Gilbert for $1.3 million to an unnamed Phoenix-based private investor who paid cash. The land is zoned for commercial development.

Last April, NZ Corporation sold two other parcels at the same corner. This sale represents the last remaining parcel that the company owned at the corner.

Since last year, NZ Corp. has been following through on a strategic plan to unload its real estate and mineral assets. The company wants to move into bridge financing for commercial development project, and has a new wholly owned subsidiary, Bridge Financial Corporation.

The strategic move is in response to the company's falling share price, which has been on a downward path since hitting a high of nearly $11 in late 1999. The company's shares are now trading for around $3.50.

"We believe that the sale of these assets, for which the realization of value may otherwise be years in the future, and the subsequent acquisition of other assets or enterprises which earn a current return will be in the best interests of the shareholders," says R. Randy Stolworthy, president/CEO of NZ Corporation.

The company has land in Sedona, which is zoned for a timeshare development, industrial land in Albuquerque, NM, residential land in Las Cruces, NM, and more than 120,000 acres of rural land in Apache and Navajo counties in Arizona. The company expects to sell the assets for as much as $23 million.