Sitting on 4.36 acres, the luxury Gibert property includes a 4,000-square-foot day spa, go-kart track, gun range and 6,000-square-foot entertainment facility.
MBA All-Star Andre Ethier, the property’s original owner, had sold it to Jeffry Sawyer, whose health care company sold its 32 urgent care centers to Phoenix-based Banner Health in 2016.
When Sawyer took ownership of the luxury Gilbert estate in 2017, he added an entertainment facility with gaming center and dance studio.
Then Sawyer hired Red Rock Development to develop the remaining grounds of the property, including a 4,000-square-foot day spa, go-kart track, underground shooting range and armory, bird and rabbit enclosures and koi ponds, said Mike Steck of Retsy | Forbes Global Properties.
He and his wife Heather Steck relisted the property in November after Sawyer took it off the market last year.
R.J. Cushing and Tom Aulman who were with North & Co. before that brokerage joined New York-based Compass Inc. (NYSE: COMP) last September, had listed the property in February 2024.
That was until the owner decided to pull the listing soon after, said Mike Steck.
“He started to interview two other groups to bring it back onto the market [last November],” he said. “We were chosen.”
Ultra-luxury listings in East Valley take longer to sell
The Stecks are already fielding buyer inquiries, Steck said.
“This is a property where there are so many nuances to it,” Mike Steck said. “It has a different peaceful feeling early in the morning with the water. It’s super serene, versus at night with everything glowing. You have two separate worlds of serenity-peacefulness-relaxation and action and adventure with the go-kart track weaving through the grounds. Everything blends together so well that it’s really a work of art.”
A buyer potentially could pick up adjacent lots to create a family compound, Steck said.
“The owners have understood this is such a unique property that it could take some time to find the right person for it,” he said.
Ultra luxury estates in the East Valley take longer to sell because they aren’t considered top-tier markets like Paradise Valley, Scottsdale and the Arcadia area of Phoenix, said J. Andrew Turley, president of Phoenix Valuations who appraises the majority of luxury properties in metro Phoenix.
Secondary markets have limited sales activity above the $5 million level, said Turley, who appraised the property for Ethier in 2017.
“Over the past 10 years, the East Valley has yielded six sales above $5 million,” Turley said. “Currently, there are eight listings above $5 million on the market in the East Valley competing for the same success.”
It can take a long time for a property of this magnitude in a secondary submarket because there are plenty of other options in the top tier markets, Turley said.
“Or [in some cases] possibly the seller is out of touch with what the intrinsic value of the home actually is,” Turley added.
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By Angela Gonzales – Senior Reporter, Phoenix Business Journal
