Pinal County buys at least 1,400 acres in Casa Grande area for Lucid lease, expansion

Pinal County buys at least 1,400 acres in Casa Grande area for Lucid lease, expansion

 
Article Originally Posted by PhoenixBusinessJournal on August 17, 2022
 

Lucid Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LCID) recently finalized development and lease agreements with Pinal County and the city of Casa Grande for an additional 1,400 acres, county records show.

The new agreements will bring the Lucid site to about 2,000 acres overall, or about the size of an OEM auto manufacturing campus for Lucid and potential suppliers, the county said. Through its expansion, the county said Lucid could hire more than 6,000 people at full buildout.

For the lease agreement, Pinal County purchased at least 1,400 acres of land from 14 property owners for approximately $113.5 million, according to Scottsdale-based Land Advisors Organization. Kirk McCarville and Trey Davis of Land Advisors facilitated the land assemblage and sale.

It's unclear what the total land sale price was based on county documents. The county said it used $115.65 million of a recently approved bond to buy the site, as well as some additional costs such as bond insurance premiums.

Pinal County and Casa Grande approved the development, lease and purchase agreements in public hearings in July. Lucid, which signed the agreements in early August, will pay an annual rent of $7.1 million for four years with an option to buy the property. The county also approved a $126 million bond, most of which was used to purchase the site for Lucid's lease.

Casa Grande has said that Lucid launched a campaign a few months prior to establish a new vision for its campus in the city. Recent reports show that Lucid plans to start construction on the third phase of its AMP-1 production plant next year, with the project extending into 2024 and possibly 2025.