Recreational Investment Group LLP announced on Sept. 12 that it had completed the purchase of nearly 16 acres at the northwest corner of Highway 260 and Dickison Circle for $1 million for a new recreational vehicle park.
The company plans to develop the vacant land, which is currently zoned C-3 commercial, into the Thunderbird RV Ranch, which it anticipates will offer 120 to 130 lots marketed to middle-class travelers.
“They have no intention of being a long-term stay RV park,” Camp Verde Town Manager Miranda Fisher wrote in a recent email. “The town gets 6.65% [sales and] bed tax, which is a hefty tax benefit for the town.”
“[We] started about a year and a half ago to acquire raw land and develop oriented RV parks for the most part catering to family, travelers, couples and remote workers,” Recreational Investment Group partner Dari Mahboubi said. “We play in the space of parks in the size of anywhere from 100 to 200 pads throughout the Southwest and Midwest.”
The company is also developing parks in Payson and Cheyenne, Wyo. Mahboubi said that Thunderbird RV Ranch plans to charge $800 to $850 monthly, and lot lengths will range from 40 to 70 feet with a sizeable number of pull-through sites.
“I think there’s a lot of opportunity to build quality family-oriented parks with nice amenities in the $600-, $800-amonth space,” Mahboubi said. “That’s what we’re looking to do, somewhere in the middle. We certainly don’t want to build a mobile home park, and we don’t want to build a park that is too unaffordable for the average family of travelers.”
The project is expected to create about eight jobs and is awaiting utility permits from the town of Camp Verde. Mahboubi said he expects construction to begin by the end of the year or early January and to last around 12 months.
“We should have a fitness center, washing facilities and vending machines, a general store with some goods for sale, a clubhouse that, in total, has about 2,100 square feet that will have an outdoor area abutting it, with some outdoor kitchens, dog park,” Mahboubi said.
The Camp Verde Town Council unanimously approved the project’s use permit on Nov. 1 after the Planning and Zoning Commission split 4-3 on the project. The park will be using town water, and commissioners expressed concern over “water conservation for the landscaping,” according to the council agenda.
The project is located in Camp Verde ’s “Opportunity Zone,” which was approved by the state and federal government in 2018 and allows real estate investors holding an investment in a low-income area targeted for development for at least five years to obtain a capital gains tax deduction on the initial investment. If the investment is held for a decade or more, investors can also avoid paying capital gains on the profits generated from the investment.
“We are excited about this investment in the opportunity zone, especially on a parcel that has topographical challenges,” Fisher said. “It was noted by [planner] Coy Mulcaire … that ‘there is a large wash that runs through the parcel,’ so they’re working with their engineer to have a good crossing for that. Additionally, they’re working with [the Arizona Department of Transportation] for a right – in, right – out. They have met with the tree group to work on landscaping.”
“We were aware that it’s in an opportunity zone and it’s a nice bonus,” Mahboubi said. “But I think if it weren’t there, we probably would have done the project anyway, because we see the demand in that area so high.”
