Park Brokerage Inc. has sold Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park located at 800 S. Butterfield Trail in Gila Bend, Arizona. The sale was completed on September 1, 2015 for the price of $1,370,000. North 78 Ventures LLC, an Arizona-based RV park and campground investor acquired the property with Augies Quail Trail LLC as the seller. John Sheedy with Park Brokerage Inc. negotiated the transaction on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer.
Quail Trail is an all ages seasonal snowbird RV resort on 43 acres directly on the Interstate 8 Phoenix bypass route with 132 developed RV spaces. Space rent was $280 per month in the summer months and $330 during the snowbird season. All 132 spaces are at least 80×34. Occupancy in summer was around 15% with winter months around 60%. All sites are on 20/30/50 amp service and park contains WiFi for residents. There is a large clubhouse with bathrooms, showers, kitchen, and social area as well as tent camping sites. Said clubhouse is served by a huge solar panel array which reduces electricity costs for the common areas. The park backs to hundreds of acres of BLM land which make it popular with ATV crowds. The park was once full nearly year around during solar construction boom in Gila Bend but had fallen on hard times since those workers left. The seller carried note and deed of trust on this transaction and the capitalization rate was 7.5%. Seller made concessions on financing terms to accommodate the unusually low cap rate on this type of park. The park is on city utilities and was built in 2002. Sale also includes a 1 acre parcel adjoining the property. The park was in good condition at time of closing.
The buyer plans on renovating this park to attract more long-term residents in the winter months by adding a pool and other amenities. John Sheedy stated, “Quail Trail is a new park with great infrastructure needing some new blood to increase marketing and management to keep the park filled up during the winter. Gila Bend is close enough to Phoenix to attract snowbirds who want some peace and quiet but also proximity to the amenities a large city like Phoenix can provide. I don’t see why this park could perform as well as the snowbird parks in Yuma or Quartzsite both of which are huge snowbird destinations. The buyer knows the sub-market and is planning upgrades to the park which will put it in competition with some of the nicest snowbird destination parks in the county.”
