Romspen received $4.25 million for the former Vistoso Golf Course

The beginning of a 202 acre preserve

Friday’s announcement by The Conservation Fund that they purchased the former Vistoso Golf course was fantastic news for the community. It marked the end of a long and difficult negotiation with the property owner. More importantly, however, it marks the beginning of a 202 acre nature preserve for everyone in the community to enjoy.

We plan to tell the story of how this all came about. It is indeed a very complicated story.

Today, we start our story with the result: The settlement agreement that was signed for the purchase of the property.

Resulted from a deal that required a “settlement agreement”
“A settlement agreement is a legal contract that resolves the disputes among all parties by coming to an agreement. It is a legal document where all parties in a court case, in civil law, agree to an outcome of any judgment being made in advance.” (https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-is-a-settlement-agreement.html). When it comes to the Vistoso Golf Course, there are many issues that needed to be resolved. The most important of which was what development was going to be allowed on the property. There is after all a 6+ acre parcel that is already zoned for apartments. Then there is the 202 acre golf course including a clubhouse that could have been potentially used for a variety of purposes. The settlement agreement states exactly how all of this was resolved.

The deal has six key elements

• 202 acres will be a permanent nature preserve.That is the golf courses.
• 6+ acres, the clubhouse area, will house proximally 132 apartments
• The apartments will be no higher than two stories. The property is zoned for up to a three-story apartment building.
• A small portion, roughly 1 acre, adjacent to the the 6+ acres will be available for use for parking for the apartments.
• No county recapture of property taxes will be incurred by any party as a result of the sale.
  
• Romspen will receive funds as detailed in the panel at right

There are four participants in the deal
Romspen (Vistoso) LLC

Romspen LLC is the owner of the property. They purchased it in 2012 in a bankruptcy proceeding. They operated the golf course until 2016. They shut it down and proceeded to spend the next five years concocting various ways to parse the property for development. They received $4.25 million for their effort.
Ross Rulney

Ross Rulney is a Tucson based developer. He developed "El Corredor" which is located at Oracle and Linda Vista. It is a mixed-use development. Rulney took over that property from a company that was trying to build a motel there. They went out of business.  Rulney is going to build the apartments.. He paid $1.75 million to buy the property. 

The Conservation Fund 

The Conservation Fund ("TCF") is the entity that now owns a golf course. They will be donating it to the town once they find a conservator to manage the settlement agreement such that nothing other than a natural preserve will ever exist on the property. Through the efforts of the residents, TCF raised donations sufficient to pay Romspen $1.615 million. That was the appraised value of the land.

Town of Oro Valley

The town of Oro Valley is the fourth participant in the transaction. The town agreed to pay $885,000 to settle all remaining “disagreements.”  This resolved a "legal dispute."

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Want to learn more? Read the Settlement Agreement here.

Update On Negotiations To Purchase Vistoso Golf Property

The following is a press release from the organization, Preserve Vistoso

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April 26, 2021-- Mike Ford, Southwest Director of Conservation Acquisition for The Conservation Fund (TCF), provided Preserve Vistoso board members an update on progress to purchase the Vistoso  from Romspen Investments. Ford said that the Town of Oro Valley Attorney Jonathon Rothschild and Town Manager Mary Jacobs invited TCF to reengage in discussions for a purchase agreement with Romspen. Any deal is contingent on an appraisal of the property to establish Fair Market Value (FMV). Romspen attorney Pat Lopez agreed to contract for an updated appraisal

Ford said the deal being considered is for TCF to purchase the 202 acres zoned recreational at FMV and place a conservation easement on the property to protect it in perpetuity as open space. Terms of the deal including the purchase price and conservation easement language will be released publicly once the deal closes. The purpose of a conservation easement would be to define exactly what would be allowed and what would be prohibited. It would allow hiking trails, trail heads and parking areas, but ball parks and amphitheaters, for example, would not be allowed on the property.

 In a separate agreement, the six acres where the former club house and parking lot exist, currently zoned high density residential, would be sold to a private developer. Any development of the property would be subject to all existing zoning constraints including building height limits of 35 feet. Ford said that the developer would be known to our community and the plans would be compatible with the 202 open space acres.

If the FMV offer is accepted by Romspen, TCF would hope to close the deal by year end.  While TCF intends to eventually donate the property to the Town, TCF would also select a third party conservation land trust as a steward of the property to protect the natural habitat. 

"This is great news for our community," said Gayle Mateer, President of Preserve Vistoso. “TCF has remained willing to re-engage in the process even after the initial offer to Romspen was rejected last September. Mike Ford's leadership and the Town of Oro Valley's support have made an agreement on the property a possibility. We are cautiously optimistic that Romspen will accept the deal and we can end our three-year nightmare of uncertainty about the property."

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The Conservation Fund Clarifies It’s Involvement In Former Vistoso Golf Course Purchase

The Conservation Fund has clarified its role in the purchase of the former Vistoso Golf Course in the following press release of April 8, 2021. The statement confirms what Town Manager Jacobs presented to the public at Wednesday night’s Oro Valley Town Council Meeting. It also provides detail as to what The Conservation Fund expects to happen as negotiations continue.  We have included Jacob’s remarks to council after this press release.

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The Conservation Fund statement regarding future involvement in purchase of the former Vistoso Golf Course

“The Conservation Fund (Fund) is pleased to announce it has been invited to resume formal discussions and negotiations with the Town of Oro Valley and representatives from Romspen Vistoso, LLC, concerning the purchase of the former Vistoso Golf Course. Yesterday, we met to discuss the proposed framework of a new agreement concerning the prospective purchase of the 202 +/- acres, currently zoned recreational/open space. A separate agreement between a private buyer and Romspen Vistoso, LLC will be executed concurrently for the remaining 6 +/- acres.

Securing the 202 +/-acre property will be contingent upon reaching agreement based upon an updated appraisal establishing current fair market value under mutually acceptable terms and conditions. We expect the report to be prepared quickly and we will announce the actual purchase price once final agreement has been reached.

Under related discussion, it was also agreed the Fund will manage and lead all fundraising associated with any prospective purchase. The Fund will coordinate directly with all interested parties, including Preserve Vistoso and the many residents who have long supported this important effort. The Fund will also develop a concurrent Conservation Easement to ensure the property will be protected and managed for conservation and open space, in perpetuity, prior to transferring the land to the Town of Oro Valley for long-term ownership and management.

The Fund shares the collective passion to preserve this unique property and we will keep everyone advised as details continue to develop. We plan to make a more detailed announcement in the next 30 days, following completion of the updated appraisal. In the meantime, we want to thank everyone for your continued trust and confidence. Your support, financial generosity, and valuable input will be needed now more than ever as we work to create lasting results for everyone.

For any questions or concerns please contact Mike Ford, Nevada and Southwest Director at mford@conservationfund.org.”

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Jacobs’ statement regarding status of former Vistoso Golf land purchase

Town Manager Mary Jacobs provided the following update on the town’s purchase of the former Vistoso Golf Course, at Wednesday’s Oro Valley Town Council meeting:

The town has achieved “...a framework for the purchase of the golf course subject to working with third parties including The Conservation Fund and a successful fundraising effort; and while I’m not at liberty to outline the specifics tonight, this framework is consistent with the town Council‘s November 18th motion to staff.”

Jacobs continued “...this purchase framework has been discussed with Romspen, The Conservation Fund and a third party purchaser for the 6.3 acres [of land currently zone for multi-family housing]; and all parties have agreed to work within the general framework toward a detailed final agreement. Mr. Rothchild and I are working diligently to bring this framework to fruition; and subject to agreements being finalized with Romspen, we hope to then share the details with the community and invite your participation in the near future.”

(Source: Town Council Meeting, April 7, 2021, 11 mins)