The buyer plans to hang onto the land for 18 months to two years in hopes the market will turn around, according to Brent R. Moser, executive vice president with Phoenix-based Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC. He says the acreage along East Selma Highway near Interstate 10, about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, was unloaded by the Fort Worth-based homebuilder at a discount because of market conditions.

"Unfortunately, this was somewhat of a fire sale situation," Moser tells GlobeSt.com. "That property three years ago probably would have attracted $7 million, minimum. It's just a matter of no velocity in the sales market for homes and mortgages that are difficult to obtain."

Also difficult to obtain, Moser says are ready buyers with cash for land. "We're still in a situation in which buyers with the cash to buy the sites are still on the sidelines," he adds. "We were close to turning the corner on this and getting some more activity until the recent financial troubles hit."

The majority of the Casa Grande land is zoned residential, but Moser says other area land parcels originally zoned residential are being bought and rezoned. He says, however, it's a little too early to determine if the Pollack land will boast any commercial real estate component. "We'll know better in a couple of years, when residential should heat up and velocity build," says Moser, who worked with Grubb & Ellis senior associate William W. French to sell the land.