All according to (master) plan Why IHP Capital Partners and Värde Partners acquired balance of land in Vistancia By KYLE BACKER
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orth Peoria’s Vistancia community is about to welcome new neighbors. Californiabased IHP Capital Partners and Värde Partners, with U.S. offices in Minnesota and New York, recently formed a joint venture to purchase 3,721 acres of land within Vistancia. According to the commercial real estate tracking website Vizzda, two transactions totaling $68 million include all 3,300 entitled residential dwelling units in the Northpointe neighborhood and 370 acres of commercial mixed-use development that will serve a town center. The strategic partnership, called Vistancia Development LLC, intends to
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deliver 520 singlefamily residential lots to homebuilders later this year. “IHP Capital Partners is very bullish on our project in Vistancia but also very bullish on Greater Phoenix in general. That’s Katie Gregory why we took this large position in Peoria,” says Richard Whiteley, co-president and COO of IHP. “We’re going to be aggressive and active here for some time to come.”
THE DEAL Vistancia’s brand recognition as one of the top-selling master-planned communities in Greater Phoenix made it enticing for investors, especially since the development still has room to grow in both residential and mixed-use areas. For Whiteley, investing in a mature master-planned operation meant that some financial risks were diminished.
Mark Hammons
Richard Whiteley
“People have already voted on Vistancia — 17,000 residents live there. The thing about buying into these midcycle master plans is we already have some comfort that the investment thesis has been proven. The deal is somewhat de-risked by the fact that the southern half of the master plan has been so successfully received,” Whiteley says, adding that nothing is a sure bet, especially in real estate. The collaboration between IHP and Värde Partners also lowered the exposure of both firms. “We want to de-risk investments for us. Our
