Tartesso, north of Interstate 10 and spanning both the sides of the Sun Valley Parkway, was hailed as the gateway to the metro Phoenix’s booming growth to the west in 2005. But the development, like so many others on the Valley’s edges, was stalled during the housing crash.

Metro Phoenix's home-building market is rebounding and the developers are buying land again. Tartesso deal is one of the biggest and priciest Valley land deals to be closed in a decade.

Valley developer and philanthropist Jerry Bisgrove has sold the Tartesso development to Irvine, California-based Dolphin Partners. The California investor has paid an amount of $80 million for more than 10,000 acres west of the White Tank Mountains in the Buckeye, that could sprout nearly 40,000 new homes.

The deal, made up of multiple sales for large and small pieces of Tartesso, was closed and the sale documents were filed by Friday morning. Development has restarted in the Tartesso. Home-builder D.R. Horton is all set to open a new subdivision in the community.

The proposed Interstate 11 freeway will be running next to Tartesso, which will make the development and others around the west of the White Tanks more accessible to the home-buyers.

By Premji