A defunct golf course in Laveen that neighbors fought to preserve as open space is being carved up for redevelopment — with the City Council set to approve two rezoning requests on June 3 that would allow a gas station, convenience store, and retail at the site's busiest corners.
The parcels are part of the larger redevelopment saga at the former Southern Ridge Golf Club, at 59th Avenue between Southern Avenue and Baseline Road. Built as a 36-hole course in 1993 under the name Cotton Fields Golf Club, with holes designed by PGA player Dan Pohl, it was part of a master-planned community called Cottonfields. The course went through two name changes — Bougainvillea and then Southern Ridge — was downsized to 18 holes in 2004, and closed in 2019, leaving an abandoned, overgrown property in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
Laveen 140 LLC bought the site in 2022 and initially proposed roughly 800 residential units with small open spaces including pickleball courts, dog parks, and playgrounds. That plan met deep resistance from surrounding homeowners, according to zoning attorney Adam Baugh of Withey Morris Baugh, who represents the current development. The opposition centered on removing the golf course entirely — residents wanted to preserve what green space remained.
"We had to have a series of meetings with the community to create a more collaborative and mutually acceptable proposal," Baugh said in project documents filed with the city.
The resulting plan — called "The Score at Cottonfields" — brings golf back. Architect Forrest Richardson, known for designing Mountain Shadows' executive course in Paradise Valley, developed a 20-hole layout with a musical theme: each hole would feature genre-specific music triggered by geofencing through a smartphone app, from "Jaws" at the tricky water hole to a French melody at the Biarritz-inspired par-3. The facility would also be designed to host tournament outings of up to 100 players, based on National Golf Foundation market analysis.
The developer would build the 20-hole executive course with a renovated clubhouse, putting course, and restaurant. Around it, 415 homes would cluster in four development units: 23 attached luxury townhomes, 115 detached patio homes, 184 attached townhome villas, and 93 traditional single-family homes. The golf course must be completed before any homes can be occupied, a sequencing requirement that addresses community fears of a broken promise.
The two rezoning items before the council on June 3 are corner parcels of this larger project. Item 104 would rezone 3.61 acres at the southeast corner of 59th Avenue and Southern Avenue from Golf Course District to neighborhood retail (C-1) for a gas station and convenience store. Item 105 would rezone 4.35 acres at the southwest corner of 55th Avenue and Southern Avenue for general retail and restaurant use.
The Planning Commission recommended C-1 zoning for both sites, a compromise from the C-2 zoning the applicants originally sought. The Laveen Village Planning Committee voted 10-2 to recommend denial as filed. Because of prior legal agreements with surrounding homeowners, the developer needed approval from two-thirds of residents before the city could act on the overall PUD. The development team says it has collected enough signatures.
The project team includes Norris Design as land planner, golf course architect Forrest Richardson, and the zoning firm Withey Morris Baugh. Property owner Alan Robinson (59th Avenue 202 LLC) controls the first parcel, while 55 South 3 LLC controls the second.
Southern Ridge is one of several defunct Valley golf courses facing redevelopment as the sport's participation has declined and aging courses struggle to stay profitable. In Phoenix alone, multiple former courses have been rezoned for housing and commercial use in recent years, including sites in Ahwatukee, north Phoenix, and near the Biltmore area. The trend reflects both market pressure for buildable land in a fast-growing region and the financial reality that many mid-century golf courses can no longer sustain themselves as stand-alone operations.