Howard Hughes gets city’s OK for first piece of 37,000-acre Buckeye project

By Angela Gonzales – Senior Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal

Sept. 12, 2023

Updated Sep 12, 2023 5:37pm MST

Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. has received final plat approvals to begin moving forward on the first piece of its 37,000-acre master-planned community in Buckeye.

Teravalis is Howard Hughes’ (NYSE: HHH) largest proposed master-planned community to date, said Heath Melton, president of the Phoenix region for the company. Howard Hughes is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston.

The first village of the project is called Floreo, which will be developed at the northwest corner of Sun Valley Parkway and a new street approved in the plats called Teravalis Parkway, Melton said.

It represents the entryway into Teravalis, which will be developed over several years.

Heath Melton

Floreo represents about 5,000 single-family lots on 3,029 acres of the 37,000-acre Teravalis master plan. Buckeye City Council on Sept. 5 approved final plat requests for 1,097 single-family lots on about 330 acres which make up the first phase of Floreo.

“Getting final plat approval by the city council was an incremental step to moving that forward,” Melton said. “We’re actively under development of the property.”

Another 100 acres will be set aside for future commercial use.

With Festival Ranch master plan to the north and Tartesso master plan to the south of Teravalis, there is a need for a grocery store in the area, he said.

Schools and places of worship also will be key to the growth of a new community.

Also needed on that 100-acre commercial site will be a medical provider, he said. “We’re in active conversations with all the hospital systems,” Melton said. “We know the path of growth is going to have a definitive need for medical.” Also on that commercial section will be rental units when the market bears the need for it, he said.

All-important water rights have been secured for the first 3,029 acres. “We have two certificates of assured water supply for all of Floreo,” Melton said. As for the rest of the Teravalis project, Melton said he’s working with the governor’s staff, Arizona Department of Water Resources and the city of Buckeye.

This development comes at a time when most experts say there’s a need for more home construction.

“We’re still in a very undersupplied market,” Melton said. “In-migration continues to take place from other states on the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast. It continues to add pressure to the lack of supply in Arizona. The demand is still high.”

With final plat approvals in hand, Howard Hughes is moving forward on the first piece of Teravalis, its 37,000-acre West Valley master-planned community.
HOWARD HUGHES CORP.

Howard Hughes broke ground in October 2022 to pave the way for infrastructure work.

Howard Hughes had purchased the land in October 2021, paying $600 million to a partnership between Scottsdale-based El Dorado Holdings Inc. and Phoenix-based JDM Partners LLC. Those two companies still maintain a combined 50% stake in Floreo.

Last year, sports mogul Jerry Colangelo and his JDM Partners exercised an option to buy shares in a partnership with Howard Hughes.

Today, JDM owns 17% in combined interest in Teravalis, the name of the former Douglas Ranch that JDM and El Dorado had been planning before Howard Hughes bought it.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with clarifications from Howard Hughes. To read the original article by the Phoenix Business Journal, please view it here.