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<br />million Tennis Ranch,
<br />""'""''"·'-""'"'' from the "ashes" of
<br />the old Paradise Valley Racquet Club,
<br />John Gardiner stands on the steps of the
<br />clubhouse framed by the silhouette of
<br />Mummy Mountain in the background.
<br />The condominium-resort is built around
<br />a complex of nino tennis three
<br />Republic Pho!o by Yul ConawaY!·~:· '
<br />swimming pools, a restaurant-lounge~
<br />shops and 40 two•bedroom casitas.
<br />DON G. CAMPBELL
<br />Business and Financial Editor
<br />needs a little place to get
<br />away from it all-a nest, a sanctuary.
<br />So how about a cozy hideaway on the
<br />north of Camelback Mountain? A
<br />nice, two-bedroom apartment with a
<br />Pullman kitchen,
<br />and a great view,
<br />f o r a niggardly
<br />$57,000?
<br />Incidentally, as
<br />owner of this lux·
<br />ury pad, please
<br />don't expect to oc·
<br />cupy it more than
<br />two months out of
<br />the year.
<br />The project we ·
<br />have in mind isn't
<br />dactly an urban renewal project and-
<br />as a housing development of any kind-·
<br />H is certainly distinct, if not unique. Who
<br />in his right mind is going to lay out this
<br />sort of money for a relatively small
<br />apartment that he crut't even live in for
<br />more thnn GO days out or the year?
<br />· Oddly enough, though, t11is is the con·
<br />cept of .John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch,
<br />·which i<: T'~'l'r.h~d on 5'? ncrcs that hang,
<br />precariously, over Paradise Valley at
<br />5700 E. McDonald Drive on the site of
<br />the old, ill-fated Paradise Valley Rac-
<br />quet Club. 'l'hat the idea, wiggy though
<br />it may appear, is sound may be seen in
<br />ihc fact that almost half of the housing
<br />units -the "casitas'' -are already
<br />sold, or in the process of being sol~,
<br />almost two weeks before the ranch offl.
<br />cially opens.
<br />. The wllo1c thing is rather other·
<br />worldy: a posh clubhouse with a sweep·
<br />ing, 90-degrce view of the north side of
<br />Camelback from an elevation of 1,4DO
<br />J"e~t, a cluster of 40 casitas seemingly
<br />crJselcd out of the side of the mountain
<br />-each with its own twin balconies com·
<br />manding a breath taking view of the
<br />same valley -and, below, nine cham-
<br />pionship tennis courts flanked by a com·
<br />plete pro shop, snack shop, locker
<br />rooms, massage parlors and, stairstep-
<br />ping their way up the side of the moun-
<br />tain, three mvimming pools,
<br />Still and an, the concept of the Tennis
<br />Ranch is decidedly off-beat: half~
<br />residential condominium and half-resort,
<br />1vith tho J)uyers -who pretty well have
<br />to lJc wealthy tennis buffs to begin with
<br />-buyinr, the apartments partially as an
<br />investment, partially as personal vaca·
<br />Hon spas and partially for the hell of it.
<br />I
<br />$57,000 for a mountainside ren·eat? 01(
<br />...... hut to use it only 2 months of year? the present .fohn
<br />Tennis is a bigger·
<br />than-life realization of what actor John
<br />Irr.land and his .Joanne Dru, had in
<br />·mind in 1955 when founded and
<br />built the Valley Rae·
<br />that fell, almost
<br />times, bounced in ,
<br />'··--'······-L courts, and
<br />tho;n in side of the
<br />Savings and Loan Asso-
<br />deteriorating, litter·
<br />Valley's curse
<br />in 1967, finally fell into
<br />local syndicate headed by
<br />· Russell of Jackson and Associ-
<br />Praying Monk against the setting sun looks down on
<br />broad· walkWays. separating the two-bedroom casitas
<br />i .
<br />chiseled into the north side of Camelback Mountai1 n
<br />to form heart of John. Gardiner's Tennis Ranch.
<br />poses, and property tllat is bought, ex-
<br />clusively, as a residence.
<br />·· In t:ssence, that is -one local tax
<br />expert explained -buyers of condomi-
<br />niums in the Tennis Ranch are buying a
<br />piece~of property that, 10 months out of
<br />the y'ear, is going to be operated as a
<br />business -
<br />
<br />a
<br />
<br />conventional resort. (The
<br />owner, in fact, can take only 30 of his 60
<br />days· a year "in' season" -between
<br />Christmas and Easter.)
<br />This means that he can not only write
<br />off, for tax purposes, his interest (and
<br />the condominiums are financed at 75
<br />per cent over 25 years at 8% per cent)
<br />as any home buyer can, but he can also
<br />vmte off his monthly maintenance of
<br />$63.50 (which the homeowner can't), and
<br />depreciation on the casita for 10 out of
<br />the 12 months and offset this against
<br />the rental that the casita brings in while
<br />he is not occupying it, personally.
<br />In the owner's absence, that is, the
<br />. ranch acts as a management agent and
<br />rents his unit out as resort housing at a
<br />rate of $130 a day for two couples or,
<br />operating each two-bedroom apartment
<br />as two rental units, at a rate of $85 per
<br />day, per apartment for single beds, or
<br />$60 per day for twin beds. It's a rental
<br />fee that includes breakfast and lunch, '
<br />and compares favorably with other re· !
<br />sort hotels 'in the Valley during the sea~
<br />son. ~'
<br />apartment for 10 months of the year as
<br />a business property -presumably can
<br />us& about $2,8W a year as depreciation,
<br />under straight-line accounting, to offset
<br />the rental on his $57,000 unit.''
<br />And, if Gardiner's estimate is right,
<br />owners of the casitas should enjoy about
<br />an 80 per cent occupancy rate during
<br />their absence. On this basis, then the
<br />casita owner could, conceivably, receive
<br />something slightly in excess of $12,000 a
<br />year in rentals as his 40 per cent of the
<br />"take" less for tax purposes, the $2,800
<br />depreciation on the property.
<br />A bit of finger-clicking mathematics
<br />comes up with the distinct possibility
<br />that the casita owner might amortize his
<br />entire investment in four or five years
<br />. while -at ihe same t.ime -enjoying a
<br />rent-free vacation himself for 60 days
<br />out of the year and, for tax: purposes,
<br />writing of£ a trip or two to Phoenix
<br />during the other parts of the year to
<br />oversee his rental investment.
<br />types as Dallas financier John Murch!.~
<br />son, Phoenician Robert W. Galvin, ch;,ir-
<br />:man of the board o£ Motorola, and for·
<br />mer tennis great Jack Kramer, now of
<br />Los Angeles.
<br />Locals capable of enjoying. tennis and
<br />the fantastic view from the restaurant·
<br />cocktail lounge in the clubhouse can cut
<br />themselves into the action, Gardiner
<br />said, through resident memberships -
<br />initially limited to 50 -can-ying an ini-
<br />tiation fee of $1,250 and $200 a year in
<br />du.es. Nonresident members, living out-.
<br />side a 50-mile radius of Phoenix, can get
<br />in with payment of a $100 initiation fee
<br />and yearly dues of $50.
<br />Painfully conscious of the on·
<br />again-off-again, up and down, boom and
<br />bust expectations surrounding the old
<br />Racquet Club, the very-Irish Gardiner
<br />sweeps his blue eyes over the $2 million
<br />complex of courts, clubhouse, swimming
<br />pools and the angular, rough-hewn,
<br />. somewhat Casablancan casitas stagger·
<br />, ing up the mountainside.
<br />ates an( First Soutlnrcst Small Invest·
<br />ment headed H.
<br />O'Brien.
<br />'l'he local investors then prcc~rrlPn to
<br />join forces with Gardiner and Westga~c-.
<br />French Construction Co. of San Francis·
<br />co which undertook the face-lifting of
<br />the
<br />An old hand at the tennis game, Gar·
<br />diner, a white-haired ex-pro, has
<br />operated the well-known Tennis Ranch
<br />in Carmel Calif., for the past 10
<br />years.
<br />sun and all -po~h or unposh,
<br />tennis-nut or tennis-indifferent -what's
<br />the allure of buying a condomini.um
<br />apartment for either $55,000 or $.57,000
<br />(two different floor plans), possessiOn of
<br />which you immediately away for 10
<br />out of every 12 months?
<br />Althotwh coy on the subject ("That's
<br />between ~very apartment owner and his
<br />own ta.x people, Gardiner concedes
<br />that a of the allure is the
<br />difference the way Uncle Sam
<br />""""""'h' owned for rental pm··
<br />I
<br />The ArizonlJ_Republic D·l5
<br />The rental fee, in the owner's ab·
<br />sence, is split between the ranch as the
<br />management agent (60 per cent) and
<br />the owner (40 per cent).
<br />"This means," the tax experts
<br />~aid, "that the owner -operating his
<br />..
<br />But, at any rate, he had better like
<br />tennis -whether he is a beginner, in·
<br />termediate or advanced player _. be·
<br />cause that's the name of the game in
<br />John Gardiner's book.
<br />They club will be staffed · by four
<br />full-time professionals. The teaching
<br />court boasts an Ampex cl95ed television
<br />circuit for instant replay of the students'
<br />progress and, several times a year ten·
<br />nis clinics ,will be held during which en·
<br />rollees will live, breathe and sleep the
<br />game for anywhere from three days to
<br />two weeks at a time.
<br />So far, Gardiner said this past week,
<br />casita buyers include such diversified
<br />"It's going to go," he says deter-
<br />minedly. "It's a natural, I think. Not like
<br />Aspen, where the condominiums came
<br />piling in, one after another, and kept, the
<br />values down. Here we've built as many
<br />as we can ever build because of the
<br />zoning. It's a natural." ···
<br />For Paradise Valley which, a year
<br />and a half ago, was faced with the pros·
<br />pect of watching a rapidly eroding pile
<br />of masonry steadily spreading its blight
<br />over one of the most spectacular scenic
<br />points on the mountain, the revitaliza-
<br />tion of the club into a key resort area
<br />is, like money in the bank.
<br />Republic Photo bY Roy Coswa·
<br />Mrs. Leon Tolleson, left, Mrs. George Isbell and Mrs. Arnold Brown
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