Plans for dinosaur theme park become extinct

Posted by Arizona Real Estate

July 11, 2007

A Phoenix family gave up its dreams of creating a Dinosaur theme park near Holbrook and sold the property this week to a Mesa real estate investment firm.

Boa Sorte LLC paid $7 million for the 4,200 acres located just east of Holbrook north of Interstate 40. Prudential Arizona Properties agent Margy Eatwell of Gilbert represented the sellers who wish to remain anonymous.

“I had it listed for over a year. I sent out 200 mailers to investment groups and got a lot of interest on an Internet site,” Eatwell said.

Ultimately the Mesa group, which also recently purchased a large parcel of land outside of Denver, ponied up $7 million for the remote site, somewhat less than the $10 million listing price.

Eatwell said her clients bought the land in the early 1980s after spotting its unique geography from an airplane. They had several giant dinosaurs manufactured and they remain on the property, but the family was unable to make their dream work financially.

“(They) envisioned a huge theme park at one time. They were going to have rides and people would drive through and have picnics … it never quite came to full fruition,” Eatwell said.

No word on what Boa Sorte plans to do with its acquisition.

by Jan Buchholz

The Business Journal of Phoenix

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