The public auction of just over 7,500 acres of land in Pinal County is set to commence on December 22, with a modest minimum opening bid set at $46.5 million.
The property is situated to the north of Skyline Drive Road and east of San Tan Valley and has been eyed for its potential as a location for defense manufacturing and testing.
To be conducted by the Arizona State Land Department, the auction will come three months after that agency successfully asked the Pinal County Board of Supervisors for a rezoning of the site.
What is currently mysteriously known as “Project Paperclip” follows earlier reports that the Torrence, California-based company Castelion was reportedly looking at smaller Pinal County for use as a large missile testing facility.
Castelion eventually decided to set up operations for the development of next-generation hypersonic systems in New Mexico’s Sandoval County.
The Arizona State Land Department auction will be conducted in the Pinal County Courthouse in the city of Florence, with the vast acreage set to go to the “highest and best bidder.”
October 26, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Graphic courtesy of Unsplash
