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Peoria’s Hometown Newspaper
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK
Homes and lots in some master-planned West Valley communities will be sold out by the end of this year as developers and homebuilders are now buying up land farther to the west and northwest. During a recent presentation to developers and homebuilders by Land Advisors Organization, two experts also saw no end to the homebuying frenzy or the accelerating upward trend in prices. Jeff Palacios Jr., director of research for
Peoria Times Staff Writer
Dinner theater taps into Gershwin magic
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John Burns Real Estate Consulting, and Land Advisors CEO Greg Vogel predicted that frustrated homebuyers will have to look as far away as Casa Grande, the Lake Pleasant area and Florence as the inventory of affordable homes closer to the center of the Valley shrinks to unprecedented levels. Vogel noted that the number of building permits soared last year primarily in the West Valley and Pinal County, as available land in the East Valley has all but vanished except for huge tracts of State Trust Land in far East Mesa.
Vogel said “all the way out the I-10 through Buckeye,” developers have started new platting and lots. “We’ll begin to see the start of new asphalt,” he said in the Sun City Festival Ranch area, Tartesso “and especially up along the Lake Pleasant Corridor Highway 74, that whole pocket between 60 and the 303.” “I think you will also notably see, compared to last year, a gravitation outward from infill Peoria onto and on top of
Kidnapping and murder suspect Eric Maes was arrested in a wash in the 2300 block of West Thunderbird Road Feb. 10. (Photo
Gaines, Peoria Police Department public information officer. The infant’s mother, Brittany Martie of Phoenix, was picking up her child when she tried to save him. She sustained injuries either by jumping out of the moving van or when he supposedly struck her intentionally while she was on a sidewalk. Martie was able to speak with detectives before she died, Gaines said. Abel was found Feb. 10, uninjured, at a North Phoenix home. He was reportedly placed with Maes’ sister. Phoenix police arrested the 30-year-old man in a wash in the 2300 block of West Thunderbird Road at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 10 after he attempted to flee. Maes was initially charged with one count of manslaughter, but that was amended after police interviewed him.
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Kidnapping suspect dies after suicide attempt
BY JAKARIA ROSS
FEATURES..... 13
February 25, 2021
Home developers push farther west Peoria Times Staff Writer
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Eric Maes, who was charged with killing his girlfriend and kidnapping their baby, died on Feb. 22 after a suicide attempt. His charges were dropped on Feb. 19 because he wasn’t expected to survive. Jennifer Liewer, a Maricopa County attorney’s office spokeswoman, reported that the agency “didn’t do it to show mercy for the defendant” and would have refiled charges if Maes’ condition improved. Charges in detail included premeditated first-degree murder, kidnapping, endangerment and theft of means of transportation. According to court documents, Maes confessed to these charges prior to
courtesy Peoria Police Department)
his suicide attempt. He was being held on $2 million bail. On Feb. 9, Maes, a transient, allegedly kidnapped his 10-month-old son, Abel, from his sister’s Peoria house and stole a van from outside of it, said Sgt. Amanda