Local developer picks up gas station, vacant land at Coyote Wash in trustee sale

Local developer Scott Spencer has become the owner of a Chevron station and some vacant acreage for future commercial development at Coyote Wash in Wellton, all property once held by the Curtis family.

The property was sold through a trustee sale Tuesday afternoon.

The foreclosed property went for the opening bid of $2.5 million. It was picked up by LSS Inc., of which Spencer is the president and CEO.

The sale included the Chevron station and three acres around it, which Spencer said he intends to operate and add to “unless someone wants to buy it from me.” He also picked up 20 acres of vacant land for future commercial development as an investment.

Rocky Curtis of the Curtis family said he couldn't comment on the sale.

Original beneficiary had been National Bank of Arizona, with two loans totaling $4.8 million.

The opening bid covered the full amount still owed on the debt.

This is the second purchase by LSS of property at Coyote Wash. In 2009, Spencer purchased the property originally intended for Phase 4 of the Links at Coyote Wash and has developed it into RV lots. Known as Fairways at Coyote Wash, many of the lots are along the Coyote Wash Golf Course and are a nice setting, Spencer said.

He intends to sell the lots this winter. Buyers have various options for the lots, he said. While the primary purpose is for recreational vehicles, owners could choose to build a casita or site-built home.

The sale is part of a series of trustee sales of numerous properties owned by the family of patriarch Glen Curtis.

During a trustee sale on Sept. 10, various vacant and agricultural parcels were sold. Monday, another trustee sale is scheduled for several lots in Tillman Estates in Yuma and The Links at Coyote Wash in Wellton. Two trustee sales also have been scheduled for Nov. 30 of vacant and agricultural land owned by the Curtis family.

Earlier, the Mircotel hotel at Coyote Wash had been sold, and in 2010 grocer Don Olsen had purchased the grocery store and a portion of the rest of the shopping center at Coyote Wash.

After serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot in World War II, the senior Glen Curtis moved to Yuma in 1950 and developed an extensive citrus operation that at one time covered nearly the entire mesa.

The development side of his business led to such projects as Tillman Estates, a subdivision on County 12th Street and Avenue 5-1/2E. In 2000, the Curtis family purchased nearly 2,000 acres in Wellton on the south side of Interstate 8, where they proceeded to develop Coyote Wash with golf courses, homes, condominiums, a shopping center, service station and hotel.

Curtis also was a generous member of the community, donating to such causes as the Yuma Catholic High School, Yuma Community Food Bank and the University of Arizona Yuma Agricultural Center. For his generosity, he was chosen as the Yuma Sun's 2002 Citizen of the Year and the Benefactor of the Year and Philanthropist of the Year at the 2004 Yuma Community Foundation Heart of Yuma Awards. He died in 2006.

Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.