By
Katie Clark
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Property to be future site of new residential community
Christopher City, UA's former graduate student housing facility, was auctioned off yesterday for $8.55 million to De Grazia Co.
"I think the price was a little high," said Jerry De Grazia, the owner of the company. "I was hoping it would be in the mid sevens."
De Grazia's competing bids came from Monterey Homes/A.F. Sterling, whose final bid was $8.5 million.
After each bid, the opponent was asked if they wished to modify the bid. After De Grazia's bid was announced and A.F. Sterling/Monterey Homes was asked if they wished to modify, there was a collective laugh from the group and a response of "no."
De Grazia said he has been looking at the property, located on the northwest corner of Fort Lowell and Columbus, for the past few months since the university has had problems with the facility.
The building was found to be infested with toxic mold in May 2000, and the university was forced to relocate the 270 graduate students and their family members to alternative housing, said David Duffy, director of campus facilities and planning. The property is on a 65.89-acre lot.
Duffy said removing the mold and completing the renovations would have been too expensive.
"We made a choice to demolish the property," Duffy said. "We would have had to get rid of the mold, and that would have been too expensive. It wasn't economically viable."
The university has yet to find or build a facility similar to Christopher City to house its graduate students.
But De Grazia said under the right circumstances, graduate student housing might still be a possibility on the property.
"We'll look at all the opportunities," he said.
In the meantime, De Grazia said he is looking into building attached single-family homes.
"It's a fabulous piece of property," he said, but maintained his company is still in the planning stages for what to do with the property. He said he was unsure whether any of the land would be commercially developed.
"We just don't know," he said. "We are still evaluating the property and working with the city."
De Grazia said he would also work with surrounding neighborhoods to make sure his plans are welcome by the community.
Demolition of the facility should begin within a few weeks, as per the deal with the university to give De Grazia a clean site to build on.
De Grazia also has a residential development, Valley Ranch, on North Swan Road and East Fort Lowell Road.
