A 2,450-acre tract planned for 1,000 luxury single-family residences about five miles northeast of Fountain Hills heads for a trustee’s sale on Aug. 4.

The Ellman Cos., doing business as Goldfield Preserve Development LLC, defaulted on a $177.1 million loan from the Cayman Islands branch of Credit Suisse AG.

The notice of the trustee sale was filed May 4 in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.

The proposed development was known as the Preserve at Goldfield Ranch, part of the existing 5,000-acre Goldfield Ranch community.

The development would have straddled Route 87 (Beeline Highway) and shared boundaries with Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

John Lotardo, senior vice president and general counsel for Stewart Title & Trust of Phoenix, is scheduled to sell the property to the highest bidder at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, in the lobby of the firm at 244 W. Osborn Road, Phoenix.

Ellman bought 2,200 acres for the development in June 2006 for $133 million from Fountain Foothills LP and two related limited-liability companies.

That parcel was surrounded by the reservation and Tonto National Forest. The firm continued to amass adjoining properties into 2007 and then submitted its initial plans to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

The land also was annexed into the Fountain Hills Unified School District under a new law enabling such a move without a contiguous border.

The size of the single-family property lots were planned between one and eight acres. In 2007, after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a master-plan amendment for the project, the groundbreaking timetable was estimated within two years.

Don Kile, president of planned communities for Ellman Cos., previously said the closure would not affect the status of the company’s residential development in Fountain Hills.

The developer has approval to build up to 1,350 residential units on the former 1,276-acres of state trust land behind Fountain Hills Middle School off Fountain Hills Boulevard.

Ellman’s real estate projects are operated, managed and financed independently, said Kile.

The Fort McDowell Yavapai community opposed the project, citing concerns about water and fire protection.

Members of the Goldfield Ranch Homeowners Association have expressed concerns about future owners and their development plans.