Sparrow Partners, based in Austin, Texas, is making its Phoenix-area debut with five active adult communities planned totaling $200 million in development costs.

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Within the last nine months, Sparrow has closed on three land deals, most recently paying $3.53 million for an 8.4-acre parcel southeast of Bullard Avenue and McDowell Road in Goodyear, said Jeremy McArthur, president and designated broker of McArthur Land Co.

McArthur, who represented Sparrow on the Goodyear transaction that closed Sept. 4, said this is a great high-end product for the West Valley city, that will give active adults 55 years and older a place to thrive.

“This area of Goodyear is growing very fast with many commercial and retail developments, a number of manufacturing projects and data center developments,” McArthur said.

With groundbreaking to begin this month, that four-story, 189-unit community will open in early 2022.

Sparrow Partners has nine communities totaling 1,500 units either occupied or under construction in Texas and one opening in North Carolina, said Luke Bourlon, partner with Sparrow Partners.

“But the Phoenix market has really been our target for the last several years,” Bourlon said.

The five projects on the drawing board in metro Phoenix include 955 units totaling $200 million in development costs, he said. Financing is coming from a combination of construction loans and private equity.

In January, Sparrow paid $2.9 million for 6.62 acres northeast of Greenway Road and Bullard Avenue in Surprise, said McArthur, who represented Sparrow Partners in that deal. That four-story project is under construction and will have 180 units. It will be the first of all the projects to open.

Sparrow also is in escrow on a site near Signal Butte Road and U.S. 60 in Mesa and another site in Chandler, with groundbreaking expected to begin next year.

On Sept. 23, Sparrow Partners paid $4.4 million for a 10.19-acre site on the northwest corner of Zanjero Boulevard and 91st Avenue in Glendale, with plans for a four-story, 189-unit facility on 7.34 acres, McArthur said. The remaining land will be for future multifamily or office space.

Dirt is expected to turn this week and the project should open in early 2022.

Once Sparrow Partners finishes building these projects, the company will manage them, Bourlon said.

“We are fully invested holistically in the project,” he said. “We get to stay in touch with our residents and hear from them what they like and don’t like.”

Units will range from 600 to 1,300 square feet with monthly rents ranging from around $1,300 to $2,400.

Every unit has a private balcony, and those on the ground floor have yards.

Amenities will include a resort-style pool with sundeck, dog park, fitness center, game room, media lounge, coffee bar, library, two-story clubhouse and interior corridors with elevators.

Sparrow Partners also will facilitate on-site daily activities for the residents, Bourlon said.

The active adult communities are not considered independent living facilities, which usually are built on senior living campuses of care, where assisted living and skilled nursing facilities offer aging in place.

“There seems to be a gap in the type of housing offered for active adults,” Bourlon said. “This is a low-maintenance lifestyle but not for people who need assistance of daily living. The independent living model really wasn’t hitting the target for our residents.”

Instead, this type of housing offers a lock-and-leave lifestyle, he said.

“For us as a company, I think it’s a vital part of understanding who our residents are and meeting them where they’re at,” Bourlon said. “Operating these buildings and understand where they are in life and what kind of activities they’re interested in, the project takes a life of its own. Residents get to have a big part of what they want to do and the type of activities they want to have on site.”

Bourlon and his partners Matt Heininger and Jeff Patterson are former Stream Realty Partners executives who started the company in the summer of 2017.

“Now we are growing in Phoenix and we’ve got some products in Las Vegas in pre-development and are looking to grow in the southeast market as well,” Bourlon said.