ML Managers LLC said on Friday last week that it has acquired two properties already half-built in Phoenix and Scottsdale by the shuttered Grace Communities, which was pulled down by the 2008 collapsed of its main sponsor, the Mortgages Ltd.

ML Managers chief operating officer Mark Winkleman said that Mortgages Ltd was once the state’s biggest lender for construction and land acquisition grants in the mid-2000s but it went under when majority shareholder Scott Coles committed suicide in June of the same year.

Winkleman said that the company’s Scottsdale acquisition, the luxurious Ten Wine Lofts is more than 90 percent completed and has been placed in the market with Hendricks & Partners’ Mark Forrester as its lead marketing arm.

On the other hand, the Hotel Monroe in downtown Phoenix has been left in semi-developed stage since the economic downturn in 2008 and plans for the establishment of a premier hotel within the same structure has been kept at bay since then though Winkleman maintained that the property would enter the market very soon.

Also, Winkleman said that ML Managers had seized another property purchased by Grace Communities through loans made by Mortgages Ltd, adding that the 9.6 acre idle lot in Highland Avenue and Scottsdale Road, just north of the Fashion Square would also be offered to the property market in no time.

According to one of Grace Communities principals, Ryan Zeleznak, the developer has been suffering from financial issues for several months prior to its dissolution as he added that even at a stage when it was not exactly viable, a total of $121 million worth of loans were released by Mortgages Ltd to the troubled developer.

Winkleman related that the Phoenix and Scottsdale properties were all acquired by virtue of foreclosure sales though he acknowledged that settlement discussion were conducted by ML Managers with Jonathan Vento, Zeleznak and his father Don Zeleznak.

He admitted that he arranged the negotiations for the properties with three major Grace Communities’ partners as he added that details of the settlements cannot be divulged due to confidentiality grounds.

Winkleman allowed that ML Managers has been operating with its hands full in the past few weeks as he revealed that the company had also re-acquired the Los Arcos Crossing strip mall located east of Scottsdale and McDowell roads.

Originally developed by a Phoenix company, PDG America, the property was initially envisioned as a multi-purpose center that would have serves as a complementary facility for the Sky Song ASU Innovation Center, located just near the abandoned project.

Winkleman is upbeat that the property would still command a substantial interest from possible buyers/developers despite the project’s lack of existing developments as he asserted that local authorities have been studying on considerable redevelopment initiatives on the area, which should benefit existing and planned projects in the city.