Gun Club Hits Ground-Breaking Mark With $1.8-Mil Purchase

The Armory is tactical training ground for state and federal law enforcement agencies, the military and civilians. Terry Schmidt, co-owner, says the 30,000-sf Scottsdale Gun Club will boast 32 indoor shooting ranges and a two-story tactical "shoot house" with movable walls. The "shoot house" is a hands-on tool enabling SWAT teams to replicate a building to practice critical skills for storming a facility in a crisis situation.

Schmidt tells GlobeSt.com that three or four sites fell out in the land search. The winner was a tract on the southwest corner of Butherus and Northsight Boulevard in north Scottsdale. Northsight Village III is the seller of record and is an entity of a Tempe-based developer who has been selling pad sites on a five-acre parcel bought from the 100-acre Northsight, a master-planned retail and office complex that includes the headquarters of GE Software Inc.

Bob Kling, principal of Lee & Associates Arizona in Phoenix, brokered the deal. He says the acreage was in escrow for about seven months as Schmidt's team worked its way through approvals by Scottsdale governing boards. It was vital to ensure that the project "fell within the intent of the parameters of zoning" before closing the land buy, he says.It's Scottsdale and that accounts for the high ticket, according to Kling. "It's a small market with a tremendous amount of existing zoned land," he explains. Commercial acreage on the average runs from $16 per sf to $30 per sf.

Arrington Watkins Architects of Phoenix designed the gun club. LGE of Phoenix is the general contractor. Schmidt says the facility will be open to the 1,000 members in June or July.

The Armory currently has a 3,000-sf retail site in Scottsdale and contracts for use of the Ben Avery Shooting Range. The Armory was founded in 1995 and set up its first retail site in 1999. Its membership roster includes the US Marines, Navy and Army as well as the Scottsdale police force. Confidentiality bars Schmidt from naming the state and federal agencies that are on the membership roster.