Pinnacle Peak Patio closing....sad

Take the family to Ted's Hotdogs in Mesa. One can't beat the food and you can pretend your in Buffalo.

 

Another classic has closed this last March...'Greasewood Flats'. Just around the corner from Pinnacle Peak Patio always a popular watering hole and great charbroiled hamburgers.
It seems the money boys and their greed has destroyed the area and it's memories selling the land for big dollar development one more time. You know when they build a 'Four Seasons' up the road the prices go up and you are doomed. Very sad.

 

We are looking at vacation homes down in Scottsdale, and everyone mentions greasewood flats, and they are all sad that it is closed. When we were looking at one house the realtor showing it said the kids who inherited greasewood flats also inherited a big big past due tax bill so they had to sell. Not sure if that is true but that is what a real estate agent told us when looking at houses. I love the area and we are really excited to own property down there. Hopefully we find something sooner than later.

 

Too bad you missed the Golden days of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Progress has just turned them into another overpopulated soccer mom Mercedes infested cities. Gone are the simpler, slower days of life, gone is the smell of Orange blossoms from the groves of orange trees in the Spring, gone are the days when you could drive a few miles north and be in the the open desert, gone are the restaurants and attractions with real character and characters, gone are the cool nights with night blooming Jasmine in the air, gone are day long drives to Prescott or Flagstaff to escape the big city all replaced by concrete, asphalt and tract homes.
Ah yes, Phoenix was a paradise for those of us that remember.

 

According to the local papaers, that about sums it up. The heirs had to sellout to cover the tax bill and walk away with something....

Closer in,but another old time Valley landmark closed is Monti's in Tempe- two 15 story towers going up around it.

 

I lived near Phoenix for 6 years, just leaving a year ago. But vacationed there every year since the late 80's. I ate at Pinnacle Peak a few times and enjoyed the western atmosphere, too bad its closing. Phoenix has a great history and while the city is not very good at preservation, much is still left to see. If you look for it. I was enthralled with what must have been in the downtown area as well as Van Buren and Washington streets. I grew up in the hotel industry and was sucked in by the history there. So much so that I published a book, "Desert Accommodations", on it that was released in November. I will dropbox a copy to you old Phoenix guys gratis if you PM me.
I wish I had a trip planned to AZ right now as I would go to Pinnacle Peak one more time.

 

I just saw the title to this thread as I was scanning down the homepage. I went to college in Tucson, and spent a fair amount of time in PHX. To hear Pinnacle Peak Patio is closing makes me sad. It is/was such a neat place. What a shame.



Mark

 

A few pics of Pinnacle Peak and Greasewood Flat.
Pinnacle Peaks was famous for cutting off your necktie and nailing it to the ceiling.
Greaswood Flats would staple up one dollar bills on their ceiling.
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Greasewod Flats closed because the original owner died in 2012 and his heirs needed to pay the Estate Tax. They had to sell.

 

Sorry to hear that a landmark like this is going away, but please help my understand this whole "estate tax killed it" thing.
There is no estate tax up to ~$5.4M ($10.8M for married couples) right?
So the kids had to sell the business to pay for the taxes (averages ~16% from what I can find) on the value of their inheritance over $5.4M/$10.8M?

The estate tax exemption was only $650k in 2001, so it's affecting much less people/family businesses than it used to.
This article says that only 20 small businesses were hit with any estate tax in 2013:
Ten Facts You Should Know About the Federal Estate Tax | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Red Menace says the kids may have had to sell to pay a big past-tax bill.
This sounds more believable than saying they had to sell to pay 16% of the amount of their inheritance over $5.4 or $10.8M (unless the property is worth like $20M?).
If so, the father/mother did a terrible job of preparing for their deaths.

 

aha so the truth has nothing to do with the estate tax:
Scottsdale's Pinnacle Peak Patio to close

The McElhanon family simply cashed out on the 10 acre property to luxury home developers for $2.4M (so they can plunk forty 4000sqft homes on 1/4acre lots I'm sure) and are looking to "relocate" to a cheaper locale.

eh but the Estate Tax is still killing our nation's family owned treasures

"Councilman Bob Littlefield said Scottsdale "has a land-rush mentality" that led to the demise of places such as Pinnacle Peak and Rawhide.

"Developers think they should get in while the council is giving away goodies," he said. "Pretty soon, Scottsdale will be just another bland suburb."

 

Sad that one's memory is the second thing to go....
In AZ Cowboy parlance I believe that's called a load of steaming horse**** Mayor.

Enjoy your trip!

 

Pay attention Francis. The other place was the one from the tax bill.

 

oh, well apologies all around then!

The Greasewood restaurant was on a 42-acre lot supposedly worth ~$21M, so the heirs owed ~$1M in estate taxes.
Wonder why they could just sell 5 acres or so to cover the tax bill. Zoning laws maybe?
Heirs of Greasewood Flat face $1 million in estate taxes

 

Zoning laws bit my parents. It was bad enough my mother contacted her state rep and senator. She eventually got a law passed that took care of the problem.

I know you'll find this hard to believe but in many municipalities land owners even if it is 21M don't hold all the cards. They can't get the city government to pass zoning that would make the money guys pay 42M for that land. Just from my limited experience, I can imagine they wouldn't allow them to subdivide the land if a large developer wanted the whole piece.

I have one question. If it was the family's land, why should they have to pay $1mil to keep it?

 

I don't find that hard to believe, in fact I'm thankful they don't.

Because an Estate Tax is good for America.
It wasn't "the family's" land. It belonged to one man, who apparently didn't plan very well for his own death (at the age of 92) nor was he able to run the business profitably. He was millions of dollars in debt before he died so the ~$1M estate tax was hardly the only thing that "killed" Greasewood Flats.

Do you think all property (not just farmland) should be exempt from the Estate Tax, or that the Estate Tax should be eliminated altogether (which for all practical purposes it already is since less than 0.2% of all US estates are subject to any tax)?

 

All the money that was inherited was money the deceased paid taxes on already.

 

So this guy didn't plan well. Therefore the government gets to penalize his family. I beg to differ on who's land it was. I know I put countless hours in without pay to help care for that land. I would say I should be way more entitled to the amount that will be paid in estate tax than you or any other citizen in this country. It damn sure wasn't yours.

If you would quote my whole post you would realize that I was implying there are other people that do hold all the cards.

 

Well well...I see an emote "rolls eyes"

I take it you think estate tax doesn't kill families and their estates? Want real life examples?

 

Well, I'm the UK, estate taxes are 40%, and kick in at £350000, approx $500000, so think yourselves lucky chaps!

 

Sure - let's hear some.