John Wayne's former Arizona land sold to developer for massive community

By Angela Gonzales

Nearly 1,000 acres of the sprawling Red River Ranch property once owned by Hollywood icon John Wayne have been sold to a developer planning to build a massive master-planned community that could be incorporated into a larger master plan with tens of thousands of homes.

CLB Real Property Holding Co. LLC, an entity tracing to Tempe-based W Holdings, paid $29 million for 925.46 acres to a partnership between Scottsdale-based El Dorado Holdings Inc. and Robson Communities Inc., according to Tempe-based Vizzda LLC.

That leaves El Dorado Holdings with the final remaining 582 acres of Red River Ranch, said Michael Ingram, founder and chairman of El Dorado Holdings.

"They're interested in buying the remainder," Ingram told the Business Journal.

As far back as October 2000, the property in Pinal County was approved for 2,120 homes, according to Vizzda.

CLB Real Property Holding plans to develop the master-planned community, which is south of the city of Maricopa, said Carson Brown, principal of CLB. Maricopa is the third-fastest growing city in the Phoenix metro, increasing its population by more than 30% between 2020 and 2024 to 76,654, according to Phoenix Business Journal research.

It's highly likely the community will be named Red River Ranch, Brown said.

Outlined in red, nearly 1,000 acres of Red River Ranch south of the city of Maricopa sold for $29 million.

El Dorado Holdings Inc.

It's part of the history," he said. "It's honoring John Wayne, who is an American legend — a worldwide legend. We want to do everything we can to honor his name and incorporate his legacy into our project."

Master development could include as many as 40,000 homes

In June 2023, Brown's group bought 1,773 acres of land that also is part of Red River Ranch, paying $44.65 million for that acreage, according to Vizzda.

Then in 2024, Brown's group bought another 900 acres of adjacent land, bringing the total acreage of Red River to 2,673 acres.

This new 925-acre purchase brings the total acreage to 3,598 at Red River, Brown said.

One of the main investors in the Red River project is Gary Tharaldson of Fargo, North Dakota, who has constructed, owned and managed more than 450 hotels, mainly of which are Marriott and Hilton brands across the nation.

The overall master-planned community will encompass land on both sides of the 347 Highway totaling more than 10,000 acres, which will equate to 35,000 to 40,000 homes, Brown said.

"We are heavily invested in the area," Brown said. "We are extremely excited about Maricopa. It is a very business friendly community. Eventually, this will be part of the city of Maricopa as it is in the city's planning area."

In the early 2000s, Maricopa's population was somewhere between 1,200 and 1,800 people, Brown said.

CLB Real Property Holding Co. owns approximately 10,000 acres south of the city of Maricopa. This map shows the proposed development of two master-planned communities. The green outline represents land it previously purchased and the red outline shows land recently purchased from El Dorado Holdings Inc.

CLB Real Property Holding Co.

"Today, there's over 80,000 people in Maricopa," he said. "It's an up and coming city. We think it's the next Gilbert. When you look at growth patterns and where the growth is headed, this is where it's headed. Chandler, Gilbert and Queen Creek are pretty much built out."

Controlling and managing 10,000 acres in the area, Brown's group has the last remaining parcel of Red River Ranch under contract, expecting to close on that parcel later next year, Brown said.

In 1994, El Dorado Holdings bought Red River Ranch from the late Karl Eller, former CEO of Circle K Corp., who had purchased it from the John Wayne estate in 1980, Ingram said.

El Dorado and its group of investors ended up paying $3.63 million for the 6,500-acre ranch.

Before that, in 1986, El Dorado bought El Dorado Ranch for $3 million, another ranch that John Wayne had previously owned for 42 years.

That purchase led to the creation of El Dorado Holdings in 1987.

"That's where we got our namesake," Ingram said. "We own the El Dorado, why don't we call ourselves El Dorado?"

Those two ranches are about six miles south of Maricopa, which didn't have any basic infrastructure at the time.

Ingram has big plans for city of Maricopa

Ingram, who wanted to develop a master-planned community in the area, was instrumental in the development of the city of Maricopa.

At the time, he couldn't find a land broker to help him sell lots to homebuilders. No one believed he would be able to attract homebuilders to the area, which didn't even have a gas station at the time, he said.

"No one believed in it," Ingram said. "Everyone thought we would never sell a lot until Casa Grande was completely built out."

Today, it's a beautiful city with great leadership, Ingram said.

"Once we started building homes, Eddie Basha was the first to build a supermarket down there. Today, we have Walgreens, CVS, Lowe's, Home Depot, and the city is working on a major industrial park in Maricopa," Ingram said. "That's going to be a huge employer for that area."

Ingram estimates that 90% of the Maricopa residents travel outside of Maricopa for employment.

"That's going to change," he said.

Maricopa also has Fry's, Sprouts, Walmart, two hospitals, a community college and one of the largest municipal parks in the state — called Copper Sky Regional Park, Brown said.

While he doesn't have a timeline for developing the giant master-planned community, Brown said he envisions it along the lines of Irvine Ranch, which spans 93,000 acres along the shorelines of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach in California.

"We don't have the ocean, but this will be a spinoff of Irvine Ranch," Brown said. "We'll see a mix of commercial projects, some retirement communities, some multifamily and a mix of various sizes of lots for singe-family development."

Brown said he's looking forward to the widening of the 347 from Maricopa to Riggs Road, which ADOT approved to begin construction in late 2026. Then that widening project will extend from Riggs Road to I-10, with construction to begin in 2030/2031, with a grade separated crossing at Riggs Road.

"It's going to completely change the accessibility of Maricopa," Brown said. "Maricopa is very progressive. There are going to be some big things coming down the pike in Maricopa and we are thrilled to be a part of it."

Final Thoughts:

John Wayne’s former Red River Ranch in Pinal County is set to become one of Arizona’s largest master-planned communities. With thousands of acres assembled and plans for up to 40,000 homes, the project signals Maricopa’s rapid growth and transformation into a major Valley hub. Developers are preserving the Red River Ranch name to honor the land’s history while positioning the area as “the next Gilbert.”