Gentlemen, save the date: From Thursday, October 16 - Sunday, October 19, The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix is offering the ultimate guy getaway: the Stogies & Sticks Foursome Mancation. Brace yourselves for a long weekend of lighting up fine cigars, sipping premium bourbon, dining on delectable American Lodge Cuisine and teeing off on two of Phoenix's best golf courses.

The three-night/four-day vacation package for four kicks off at with a Bourbon & Cigar Dinner in the resort's signature restaurant, Wright's at The Biltmore. An array of top-brand cigars will be offered and selections from the Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon Collection will be poured. Friday and Saturday will be golf days on the Arizona Biltmore's two outstanding courses, with 18-hole Adobe one day and 18-hole Links the next.

The mancation package includes accommodations for three nights, the Bourbon & Cigar Dinner, and two rounds of golf with daily breakfast: $450 per person, double occupancy, per night. Add three days of golf ­and a total of 54 holes with an instructional option at the Hilton Golf Academy: $300 per person.

Another high-end home is being auctioned off in Arizona. This 5,100-square-foot home was built by Chicago architect Jack Moses and was the market at $2 million but is now being auctioned off by Sheldon Good. The home has two master suites, mahogany floors and a rooftop observatory. The home is located in the gated community of Mountain Cove Estates in Tucson and is on 1.13 acres. The home is 5,370 square feet of living space with five bedrooms plus study and four and a half baths and a natural wood burning with gas connection fireplace is located in the living room. To buy this home show up at on June 19th at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador at 6pm with a certified or cashier's check for $85,000. The minimum bid is $1.399 million.

This Arizona auciton isn't as lavish as the one of million dollar homes I covered a few weeks back but it's another real estate discount. Trammell Crow Residential has announced the auction of the Quarter Condominium Residences at Westgate City Center in Glendale, Arizona. Up for purchase are 35 two and three-bedroom townhouses. The Quarter at Westgate City Center has two resort-style swimming pools and heated spas, shaded ramadas with natural gas grills and a fitness center. A clubhouse for residents includes a kitchen, custom-designed indoor/outdoor fireplace, WiFi access, and a four-panel flat-screen TV wall.

The townhouses are part of the $1.5 billion Westgate City Center which will have 6.5 million square feet of commercial, retail, hotel and residential space including access to NFL and NHL games at two arenas, an AMC Westgate 20 Theatre, and restaurants like Bar Louie and Fox Sports Grill. The auction will take place on Sat., June 7 at 1:00 p.m. at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge, located at 5350 East Marriott Dr., Phoenix, Arizona. Minimum bids for the townhouses available at auction will start at $195,000, which is approximately 35 percent below the highest previous asking price Two-bedroom townhomes had previous asking prices of up to $485,321, and three-bedroom townhomes had previous asking prices of up to $552,520.

Arizona real estate developer Jerry Bisgrove makes our Big Givers list with the recent announcement in the Arizona Republic that he has pledged $25 million to the Valley of the Sun United Way Foundation. For every dollar pledged to the United Way over the next five years, Bisgrove's Stardust Foundation will give 50 cents up to $25 million. The donation is the third-largest pledge to any United Way in the country. In recent years, Bisgrove has also donated more than $25 million to Science Foundation Arizona and $20 million to the Arizona Family Housing Fund. Bisgrove has also been a member of the United Way Foundation's Tocqueville Society for more than 16 years, a club for those who give over $10,000 each year. His foundation focuses on lower income families and neighborhoods and has also give to the Arizona Humane Society, the YMCA, Habitat for Humanity and the Macehualli Work Center, a day-laborer center. Bisgrove made his money in trucking but is now the chairman and CEO of Stardust Companies which includes Stardust Development, a a real estate land development company, developing approximately 3,000 lots per year.

I've found more than a few luxury home auctions in Florida, but now the luxury home auction business model is hitting Arizona in a big way. On April 30, Eric Nelson Auctioneering, in association with the Larsen Company, will auction off 14 properties from LaBlonde Homes and Sundance Housing in the Scottsdale area. Homes worth as much as $3.495 million will be auctioned off. The auction also includes several one-acre homesites with an estimated value of $300,000 available at a starting bid of just $75,000. The opening bids for the million-dollar-plus homes are all just about half the estimated value of the home. Open houses are held every Saturday and Sunday from 12-4 p.m. and the homes will also be open auction day from 12-4 p.m. The gallery below features the top seven most expensive homes in the auction. Happy bidding.

The massive $1.5 billion development planned by the Ritz-Carlton in Paradise Valley, Arizona has received approval to build, making it the first luxury resort master-planned community of its kind in the world under The Ritz-Carlton brand. The approved 110 acres of the 123-acre development includes a 225-room Ritz-Carlton hotel surrounded by a residential community of single-family homes which will include villas, estate homes and one-acre estate homesites all under the Ritz-Carlton name. Community residents will get membership in The Ritz-Carlton Residences Program, including access to the hotel's services and amenities including the day spa, fitness center, private chef service, an around-the-clock concierge team, room service and valet parking.

An adjoining mixed-use component along the Scottsdale portion of the site is planned to include high-end retail, restaurants, residential and a proposed "Edition" hotel, the new boutique hotel brand by Ian Schrager and Marriott International. Prices for the whole-ownership residences will start in the low $2 millions and they are currently taking expressions of interest to purchase in advance of sales expected in early June. As we mentioned yesterday, Paradise Valley remains the hottest area of Arizona real estate.

For the next couple of weeks we will be checking out some homes in the most expensive zip codes in the United States, up today, 85253 . This zip code refers to Paradise Valley, Arizona. This small town in the Phoenix metropolitan area is home to a number of golf resorts and hotels and has become a popular warm weather destination for the affluent.

This particular area with a bumper crop of new lavish homes has a median price of $1,980,000 and an appreciation rate of 266% since 1990. We've featured a variety of homes in the area. One of the most intriguing in the area is the McCune mansion, the heir to the Hormel fortune recently owned this massive home which is over 50,000 square feet total. The property is a fantastic white elephant, it was originally listed at $25 million and now sits at $17 million. Much of the real estate in the area is given over to faux Spanish haciendas with lots of beige and stone arches. There is also a smattering of contemporary architecture like this beauty by Bud Fonce,

Today's home is less extravagant and seems more charmingly livable than others I've seen in the area. It is located in Invergordon Heights which sits between the Mummy and Camelback mountains. It has a more traditional feel with warm woodwork, wainscotting, crown and baseboard moldings, wrapped columns and a floating staircase, There are six-bedrooms total including a master bedroom with a exercise room.The children's wing features a bonus area and the downstairs theater easily seats 20. There is also a pool and a guest house. This home is listed at $6 million.

Condominiums may be in tough shape all over the country but one thing is certain, empty nesters are beginning to move into them. The Arizona Republic covers the opening of Bridgeview, a luxury condo tower on the south shore of Tempe Town Lake. The 12-story tower has views of the lake and bridges (hence the name) as well as neighboring towns and the mountains. The $140 million building is n the 17-acre Hayden Ferry Lakeside mixed-use site that also includes office space and retail. A luxury hotel is also planned. Amenities at Bridgeview include a lounge, library with a fireplace, business center, demonstration and catering kitchen, dining room/supper club, home theater, billiards room, a gym with a sauna and steam room, outdoor heated pool and spa, outdoor barbeque area, zen garden and a putting course.

While many condo towers in the Southwest have had trouble selling, the project manager at Bridgeview reports that nearly half the 104 Bridgeview condos were sold before construction was completed. That would have been slow sales a few years back but is pretty good for this market. Bridgeview has one-, two- and three-bedroom residences starting at about $680,000 and 5,000-square-foot penthouse homes at about $5.6 million.

Perhaps because I recently spent time in Southern Arizona. my first thoughts on seeing this Paradise Valley estate was wow, that's a lot of water they are using. The huge 16,237 square foot, seven-bedroom home is a surrounded by lush green grass, a large 90-foot pool and a lake which is fed by the property's private well. The home itself is the high-end iteration of the usual faux Mediterranean that is seen in the area. What sets it apart, besides the high pricetag, is the expansive outdoor space that includes an interior courtyard, lanai, rose gardens and that tranquil columned pool. It is listed at $12.95 million making it one of the most expensive homes on the market in Arizona.

Green real estate heads to Phoenix, Arizona in the form of the Aura at Camelback. The project will be a sustainable luxury-living development of 36 three or four-story townhomes. Each home will have a private elevator and a two-car underground garage as well as air-conditioned underground storage and a rooftop garden. The project will be completely solar powered. The development will certified LEED Silver and the solar system will generate all the electricity needs for the unit. The Aura will feature six floor plans ranging from 2,469 to 3,147 square feet. Homes will start at $900,000 and be as expensive as $1.3 million and construction is expected to begin in May.

Yesterday's estate had 70 pics, today, just seven but what a lovely seven they are. This modern house in Phoenix, Arizona just hit the market. The five-bedroom home has around the same square footage as yesterday's home but with less land and a far better view. You couldn't ask for a dreamier infinity pool than this one. The home has three levels, each with expansive decks.There is a large media room on the lower level that is built into the mountain. The contemporary blue kitchen has Snaidero cabinets, Miele appliances and a Gaggenau pizza oven. It is listed at $7.9 million.

This Sedona, Arizona home isn't just full of art, it has art in the entrance. The "Dance of Life" bronze leads the way to a stone staircase flanked by six stacked-stone towers. On the other side of the entry is a glass wall that shows off the views and the pool. The home is shaped like a crescent moon and has plenty of windows to showcase the views. There are five bedroom sites, a great room, dining room, gourmet kitchen, office and theater room and a seperate two-bedroom caretaker's apartment and detached gym. The property also includes two horse stalls. The home was done in luxury materials including white Thassos marble flooring (quarried and shipped in tile form from Greece) and Travertine flooring (from Italy) throughout as well as stained glass windows and sconces. The home is wired for sound with a full CD/DVD central audio system with individually controlled loudspeakers in all main areas there is also a home theater with a CD, DVD, VCR system in the media room and three additional televisions including a plasma screen in the living room. The home also includes all statues and sculptures that are displayed outside which includes several resin and bronze artworks. it is listed at $10 million.

Around a decade, ago the words "Indian casino" generally denoted small operations where the focus was just on the gambling. These days Indian casinos are often lavish destination resorts. Scottsdale, Arizona is about to get a new large resort project from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Casino Arizona will be a 15-story hotel and casino that includes a 497-room hotel, a 100,000-square-foot conference center, a spa and restaurants. The hotel is going to be a four-star operation and the project will add 300 jobs to the area. it is seen as a competitor to Westin and Marriott which are already in the area but, of course, don't offer gambling.


[via Arizona Republic]

We've seen some pricey homes in the Sedona, Arizona area before but this one is stratospheric. The reason? Land. The El Rojo Grande Ranch has 173 acres of prime land located 1.5 miles west of the Sedona city limits. The main home is a 6700 square-foot circular home which was built in 1994. The home is designed around a central courtyard with rooms that spread out like wheel spokes. Inside a mix of stone, wood, curvilinear plaster walls and picture windows give it a modern yet completely Southwestern feel. The estate also includes a 1,350-square-foot guest house and 1,700-square-foot caretaker's quarters. The ranch is also home to the El Rojo Grande Equestrian Center which sits on approximately 9.1 acres. It includes a box stall barn with nine stalls and a veterinary clinic, a corral barn with tack rooms and an office, a working barn with a blacksmith area and locker room, a hay bar, three arenas and a round pen and two corrals. The land also includes a separate 2.5 acre park located at the foot of one of Sedona's famous red rocks with picnic tables, a bandstand and room to hold special events. It is an amazing property. It's also got an amazing price, $29 million which may be a bit too rich for Arizona blood.

This modern home is a new build that is designed to blend in with the red rock sculptures of Sedona, Arizona.The main level is an open floor plan with large glass walls. The home is full of playful custom sculptural details done in stainless steel, copper, glass and iron. The finishes are lavish, including exotic woods, granite, travertine, limestone and titanium. The estate includes a main house, two-bedroom guest house, pool house, a separate home theater area and a negative-edge swimming pool with a spa and waterfalls. Landscaping includes rock and sculpture gardens. The home comes with the custom furnishings and is listed at $13.5 million. After the jump or in the galley, up close pictures of the particular details including the distinctive metal stars, squiggles and glass spheres that echo Sedona's new-agey reputation.