Land Investor Backs Out of Real Estate Into Medicine

PHOENIX-A long-time land investment company is retreating from the real estate business and getting into medical technology.

NZ Corp. plans to merge with Lipid Sciences Inc., a privately held medical technology company headquartered in Pleasanton, CA. Last year, NZ Corp. had started unloading its real estate and mineral assets to focus on supplying bridge loans to the commercial development industry. The strategic move was in response to its falling share price, which has been on a downward path since 1999 when it hit a high of nearly $11.

In June, NZ had sold 136 acres in the resort town of Sedona for $12.5 million to a partnership that includes the Four Seasons and Scottsdale-based Pinnacle Group and Cavan Investments. The partnership plans to build 76, three-bedroom time-share homes, a full-service spa and 18-hole golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf. Earlier this year, NZ Corp. disposed of 10 acres at the corner of Cooper and Warner roads in Gilbert. That transaction had taken place less than a year after the sale of two other corners of the busy intersection. NA still owns industrial land in Albuquerque, residential land in Las Cruces, NM, and more than 120,000 acres of rural land in Apache and Navajo counties in Arizona.