Christmas arrived on Friday for Anderson Development, which closed four days early on the purchase of Geneva Steel's 1,700 acres of property.

The Sandy-based real estate company, co-owned by Gerald D. Anderson and Michael Hutchings, paid $46.8 million for the property, assuming control of its demolition, cleanup and development.

Connecticut-based Contrarian Capital provided debt financing for one-half of the $46.8 million deal. Glen Pettit, a private Utah investor, provided equity financing for the remaining half.

In a bankruptcy auction in November, Anderson Development beat out a bid of $46.6 million by Utah Lake LLC, which had the financial backing of New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors.

"Our next step will be to begin working on development of a master plan for the project," Hutchings said Friday. "We envision a mixed-use development, which would have industrial, office, commercial and also residential features. It's a very large piece of ground."

Vineyard-based Geneva, which has been in bankruptcy since January 2002, already has sold its core steelmaking equipment to a Chinese firm for $40 million. In March, Geneva sold its water rights for $88.5 million to the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. The estate still is expected to sell its emission credits and could realize more revenues from outstanding litigation matters.

The property comes with 8,000-acre feet of water rights, more than enough to develop the site, Hutchings said.

Demolition of existing structures is ongoing and should be completed in the next 18 months. Earlier this summer, the mill's three blast furnaces, nine stoves and two stacks were demolished.

Roughly 75 percent of the site's environmental remediation costs will be paid by U.S. Steel, the former owner of the bankrupt steel mill. Anderson Development will pay the remaining costs, amounting to about $10 million to $12 million. Total cleanup is estimated to cost approximately $40 million and will take four years to complete.

"We're very excited about the prospects for this site and the future," Hutchings said. "A lot of people underestimated us, and we're pleased they did, because it actually became an advantage to us. A lot of people didn't think we could pull it off and do it."

The sale of Geneva's land is expected to help pay off its unsecured creditors, who are owed roughly $75 million. Unsecured creditors will capture 50 percent or more of what they are owed, according to James Markus, Geneva Steel's Chapter 11 trustee.

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