(Phoenix, June 24, 2003) Arizona State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman and Land Department Staff completed seven (7) sales at public auction of Arizona State Trust Land in Tucson and Phoenix over a period of the last two (2) days to earn the Arizona State Land Trust $56,725,000.00.

"This is the most money the Arizona State Land Department has ever generated from this number of public auctions in such a short period of time." Commissioner Winkleman stated. "I am thrilled for the State and for the school children who will benefit from the sales.

"Since my appointment by Governor Janet Napolitano in January, it has been my goal to conduct our public auctions to attract several bidders to achieve the highest prices for the Arizona State Trust Land in an open market setting. These two days illustrate what is possible.

"This is an incredible achievement for the staff of the Land Department who have worked extremely hard to bring these properties to public auction. The more than fifty six million dollars generated over these two days that will be used primarily for education in the State of Arizona is direct result of the efforts and dedication of Arizona State Land Department staff.

"These successful auctions are also a confirmation of Governor Napolitano’s commitment to implement a balanced State Trust Land policy as delivered in her State of the State message. We will manage the Arizona State Trust Lands as the valuable assets they are, while preserving essential open space."

Since January, Commissioner Winkleman has conducted several public auctions of Arizona State Trust Land for permanent open space in Maricopa County and elsewhere. Successful bidders have included the City of Phoenix in the expansion of the Sonoran Desert Preserve and the Desert Foothills Land Trust in their acquisition of Go John Canyon in Cave Creek.

The majority of the proceeds from the sales over the past 2 days will be deposited in the Permanent Fund and will provide income to be distributed in perpetuity to the beneficiaries of the fund, primarily Arizona Common Schools.

Beginning Monday, in three public auctions of small parcels of Arizona State Trust Land, approximately $1,050,000.00 was earned. The big sales began later that day in Tucson, where approximately 128 acres of Arizona State Trust Land were sold at public auction for $3,000,000.00. Competitive bidding at the auction raised the sales price of the property from an opening bid of $2,500,000.00 to $3,000,000.00. The land will be developed as residential property and the successful bidders were Tucson natives Jim and Bill Campbell.

Concurrently at the State Land Department offices in Phoenix, a long term commercial lease of approximately 10 acres of Arizona State Trust Land located at Thompson Peak Parkway and Bell Road was auctioned. The successful bidder, Byxbee Development Partners, out bid four other parties and paid a first years rent of $91,125.00 plus a Bonus Bid of $1,433,785.00. The competition for this auction was heated and there were 68 individual bids over the course of the forty five minute auction. The successful bidder intends to construct a major chain drug store.

The record setting pace continued on Tuesday morning with the sale at public auction of approximately 282 acres of Arizona State Trust Land slated for residential use at the corner of Pinnacle Peak and Cave Creek Road in Phoenix. Several major valley and national homebuilders participated in the bidding. The opening price of $15,480,000.00 was bid up more than 100 times over the course of an hour with the final bid of $27,050,000.00 being placed by CHI Construction, an affiliate of Continental Homes.

The 2 day auction session culminated later Tuesday afternoon in the sale at public auction of approximately 50 acres of Arizona State Trust Land located at the entrance of the newly completed J.W. Marriot Desert Ridge Resort and Spa. This parcel had been identified by real estate professionals as some of the most valuable land in the metropolitan Phoenix area.

The opening bid for the Desert Ridge parcel was $12,346,500.00. The bidding continued for an hour with more than 5 parties making over 150 bids until the final bid of $24,100,00.00 made by Statesman Properties was accepted

After the completion of the Desert Ridge auction, Land Commissioner Winkleman commented, "In the recent past, for a variety of reasons, at most sales at public auction of Arizona State Trust Land there were either no bidders or only one bidder. This resulted in very few increases of the sales price beyond the appraised value of the land.

"The staff of the Arizona State Land Department and I have worked very hard to ensure that auctions occur at a time and in a manner to guarantee that there would be serious competition among several bidders. This creates a greater potential for a higher sales price and more income for the Trust. We have offered properties in an appropriate parcel size, with complementary land use zoning to encourage competitive bidding from a number of significant players in this real estate market. We have also made an effort to affirmatively market the properties to all significant players both in the Arizona and national real estate market. The objective of competitive bidding from several parties is to increase the auction price and bring greater revenue to the Trust.

"The 7 public auctions over these 2 days and the almost $57,000,000.00 earned from significant competitive bidding among several parties proves that all the hard work was well worth it."

The Arizona State Land Commissioner serves as trustee of over 9.3 million acres of Arizona State Trust Land. The proceeds from the sale of Arizona State Trust Land are used by the beneficiaries of the Arizona State Trust Land Permanent Trust Fund, primarily Arizona Common Schools, K through 12.