Pinnacle Group and Cavan Investments, both of Scottsdale, along with Toronto-based Four Seasons have paid $12.5 million for a 136-acre site just outside the resort getaway of Sedona, which is about 100 miles north of Phoenix. The acreage is northwest of Sedona at the head of Long Canyon, about one mile east of the Enchantment Resort.

The partnership plans to begin construction on 76 three-bedroom homes, 18 custom home lots, full-service spa, restaurant, pool and 18-hole golf course that's been designed by Tom Weiskopf. The private course will be open by December. The three-bedroom homes, which are 2,400 sf and have 3.5 baths, will be offered as fractional home ownership, with shares selling at one-tenth of a home, Taylor says. The project is aimed at luxury second homes, says Kathleen Taylor, president of Four Seasons Hotels worldwide business operations.

The first phase of the project is set to open in early 2003. It is the first residential project to be built under the Four Seasons banner. Cavan has been an active commercial developer, mostly in Scottsdale, since the 1980s, including development of the $110-million Raintree Corporate Center in Scottsdale.

Phoenix-based NZ Corp. is the seller. NZ Corp. is a land investment firm with thousands of acres of land in Arizona and New Mexico. The sale has been made with $6 million in cash and $6.5 million that will be paid pursuant to a six-year note. The company also has been reimbursed for certain development expenses in cash. NZ Corp. has been looking to unload a number of properties that it's held for years and move into the bridge loan business.

"The sale of the Sedona property converts what had been a static, non-earning asset outside of the company's core business to cash, which is more readily deployable into earning opportunities," says Randy Stolworthy, NZ's president and CEO.

Sedona residents had fought for years to keep anyone from developing anything on the parcel, which is set in a secluded canyon. Efforts have all but evaporated after preservationists failed to raise the $14 million needed to purchase the land.