Larry H. Miller Group of Cos., Announced Monday that it will acquire a major part of Daybreak, the master-planned community in southern Jordan.
The Miller Group real estate group buys more than 1,300 undeveloped acres in the eclectic residential community in the far southwest of Jordan, including property interests in existing commercial properties, as well as future commercial and residential development.
The terms of the transaction were not published. The purchase, officials noted, does not involve existing homes at dawn.
Steve Starks, CEO of Sandy-based Larry H. Miller Group, and Brendan Bosman, managing director of Värde Partners, the Minneapolis investment firm that bought most of Daybreak at Rio Tinto Kennecott in 2016, revealed the substantial deal for Utah’s residential markets. .
Brad Holmes, president of Larry H. Miller Real Estate, said the acquisition will expand the company’s real estate footprint, within a portfolio now focused on sports, car dealerships, a chain of cinemas, finance, insurance and health care.
“We are a community builder and we are committed to the continued success of this development planned by the teacher nationally and prosperously,” Holmes said in a written statement. The company hoped to “creatively and proactively address regional growth through mixed-use planning and development.”
The Larry H. Miller group continues to branch out
This is the second such purchase announced by the business empire since it sold its majority stake in Utah Jazz in October to Ryan Smith, founder of Provo-based customer management technology firm, Qualtrics.
Managers of the company founded by late Jazz owner Larry Miller, who died in 2009, said in January that they had bought Advanced Health Care Corp., an Idaho-born chain of high-end nursing care centers. , home health and hospice centers spread across Utah and seven other states.
Daybreak was built and opened in 2004 below the Oquirrh Mountains in a cleared portion of Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon mine operations. It is designed to be sustainable and pedestrian-friendly, mixing a wide variety of housing types in denser neighborhoods and smaller courtyards than those typical of most Utah suburbs, with groups of homes surrounded by wide open spaces. .
Kennecott’s parent company, Rio Tinto, sold to Värde Partners the community’s finished homes, approximately 2,500 acres of undeveloped land, Lake Oquirrh and several major commercial buildings in June 2016, saying the divestment would generate cash and flexibility as we streamline our business and focus on mining. ”
The sale also coincided with a fall in commodity prices that had forced layoffs from Rio Tinto operations in Utah.
Since it opened in 2004, Daybreak has grown to include more than 6,000 homes with approximately 21,000 residents. It now occupies one of the most successful communities in the country.
Home sales in the 4,000-acre development have grown dramatically in recent years, mostly with increased housing demand and a domestic flight to the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are looking forward to building on the already established success of this community with the rest of the undeveloped shopping area and the thousands of residences that will be built within this regional destination area,” Starks said in a press release.
Elected officials welcome the sale of Daybreak
The deal received praise from elected officials, including Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who noted that much of the county’s population growth was occurring in the southwestern part of the Salt Valley. Lake.
Wilson said in a written statement that he “looks forward to working with Larry H. Miller Real Estate and other stakeholders to develop plans that support employment growth, open spaces and recreation, solid infrastructure and community destinations.” .
Southern Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey added that with a significant part of the dawn still undeveloped, she was “delighted” to welcome Larry H. Miller’s team to her city “for benefit current and future owners, entrepreneurs and businesses “.
Holmes said the acquisition “fits in perfectly with our real estate development and property management capabilities.”
Under his ownership, Värde has tried to drive the combination of housing options in Daybreak, while investing in key commercial pieces in the suburban community, including the expansion of a University of Utah hospital campus, the opening of a veteran outpatient clinic and the attraction of a new Salt Lake County Library, which will open this fall.
The real estate investment firm has also pushed for plans for a major network of interconnected waterways and lakes within the dawn, known as watercourse equipment.
Värde said his investor approach had also helped increase home sales in the community. Although Daybreak had already accounted for a significant portion of total Salt Lake County home sales prior to COVID-19, recent data indicates that these sales have increased from 452 in 2016 to 1,055 last year.
“We are proud of where the current community is,” said Bosman, general manager of Värde, “and we look forward to continuing the continued success of Daybreak under the direction of the Larry H. Miller group.”