Tucson, Ariz. – CBRE has completed the sale of the Shops at Desert Springs shopping center located at 7250 N. La Cholla Blvd. in Tucson. The 20,485-square-foot neighborhood retail center sits on a 1.91-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Ina and La Cholla and commanded a sale price just north of $5.38 million ($262.68 PSF).

Pete Villaescusa, Mike Sandahl, Jesse Peron and Wyatt Campbell in CBRE’s Tucson office, along with a team lead by Phil Voorhees and Brad Rable in the firm’s Newport Beach office, negotiated the transaction. The buyer was Bastion Investments, LLC of Laguna Niguel, Calif. The seller was La Cholla Retail II, LLC of Tucson.

“We are definitely seeing an uptick in West Coast investors buying in markets like Tucson,” said CBRE’s Villaescusa. “Investors are able to acquire quality properties with a higher rate of return than what they would get in their home markets.”

The Shops at Desert Springs is an Albertsons shadow-anchored neighborhood retail center that was 100 percent leased at time of sale. Occupants are a stable mix of retail, restaurant and service-oriented users, including Christie’s Appliance, Edward Jones, L’Amour Nails, Great Clips, H&R Block, Casey’s Hallmark, Edmund Marquez Insurance, Papa Murphey’s Pizza and the Arizona National Guard.

To learn more Villaescusa, Sandahl, Peron and Campbell can be reached in the Tucson office at 520 323.5100. Voorhees and Rable can be contacted in Newport Beach, Cali at 949.725.8500.

Login in and see RED Comp #2686 for additional information.

[mepr-show rules=”58038″]Sale date: 2/23/2015. Sale price: $5,381,000. Property sold with a reported cap rate of 6.6% fully leased and triple net charge of $4.50 PSF.[/mepr-show]

2014 was a whirlwind year for retail real estate sales, Tucson saw December sales of almost $42 million. This growth trend is welcomed to 2015. January started the year with $30.5 million in sales and February was even better with over $64.4 million in retail property sales. Last year’s average monthly sales hovered around $22 million.

Some industry insiders point to the readily available retail real estate in second and third tier markets to watch for high growth this year. Retailers willing to look to new markets or redevelopment of former space will find competition more manageable than in Class A real estate in major markets, while high prices may be driving them to look elsewhere.

Retail development historically follows job growth and migration patterns. The traditional formula is: where there are jobs, there will be population growth followed by retail growth, according to traditional market dynamics. However, there are some industry experts suggesting that moving forward, the U.S. may actually experience labor shortages, creating a situation in which jobs chase people. This could mean that second tier cities popular with Millennials, such as Tucson, will see an even greater influx of jobs and development as the young professionals in these cities draw development to them rather than going toward areas that are already highly developed and something retailers are watching closely.

Judging by these and other recent retail sales, Tucson may be close to having its best post-recession year yet.

Hughes Federal Credit Union bought a former M&I Bank building at 7820 N Cortaro Road in Marana for $1.15 million ($243.54 PSF). The 4,722-square-foot building was built for M&I in 2005 and was sold after BMO Harris Bank acquired M&I Ilsley Bank. The building in October sold for $700,000 and resold four months later for $1.15 million.

The building was already built-out as a bank branch, with two overhead drive-thru lanes, 32 surface parking spaces, and even the vault left intact.

Paul Serafin and Carl Jones, Jr. with De Rito Partners in Phoenix represented the seller, DROF I-9 LLC (Marty De Rito) of Phoenix and Brian Harpel of The Harpel Company in Tucson represented Hughes Federal Credit Union in the transaction.

To learn more Serafin and Jones should be contacted at 480.834.8500 and Harpel at 520.721.7999. See also RED Comp #2699.

In an unrelated transaction, the retail center at 5524-5546 E Grant Road in Tucson sold for $805,000 ($63.52 PSF). The 12,674-square-foot center was mostly vacant at time of sale, with one tenant, ETC Compliance Solutions. Built in 1984, the property sits on a 1.16 acre lot anchored by Safeway and Ross Dress For Less at the busy intersection of Grant and Craycroft.

The buyer purchased to refurbish the property for office and retail use.

Steffan Cione with the Cione Company in Tucson represented the seller, Mark and Sandra Bequette of Sequim, WA. Robert Nolan with Oxford Realty Advisors represented the buyer, Maqsood and Sabina Enterprises LLC (Maqsood Ahmad) of Tucson.

To learn more contact Cione at 520.344.9463. Nolan is aggressively marketing the property for lease from 1,080 – 6,020-square-feet for the new owner. Nolan should be contacted at 520.323.0200 for more information. See also RED Comp #2503.

Locally-owned, Industrial Chemical Arizona (ICA) will owner occupy the property at 4143 E Speedway Blvd in Tucson. The REO property sold for $235,000 ($37.60 PSF) to Jason and Amanda Tobak, owners of ICA. The company provides cleaning supplies to Tucson contractors, businesses and homeowners and was in need of larger space. It has 36 years of experience in purchasing supplies from the top manufacturers in the country. The company is headed by Amanda Tobak, a Tucson native who holds a master’s degree in Business Administration.

The 6,250-square-foot building was constructed in 1980 on a .54 acre lot.

Jim Marian, CCIM, and Juan Teran, CCIM, of Chapman Lindsey Commercial Real Estate Services represented the Commerce Bank of Arizona and Nancy McClure and Michael Laatsch of CBRE in Tucson represented the buyer.

To learn more Marian and Teran should be reached at 747-4000 while McClure and Laatsch can be contacted at 520.323.5100. See also RED Comp #2546.

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[mepr-show rules=”58038″]7820 N Coraro, Hughes Federal Credit Union – Sale date: 2/27/2015, all cash deal. APN: 226-27-019D
5524-5546 E Grant Road – Sale date 2/2/2015, $203,000 down seller carryback for balance. APN: 121-05-024A
4143 E Speedway – Sale date: 2/6/2015, all cash deal. APN: 122-13-025 & 025.[/mepr-show]

DOWNTOWN TUCSON

Stone Avenue Homes LLC, an affiliate of Holualoa Companies (Michael Kasser, president), closed on commercial land, a downtown parking lot, at the southeast corner of Stone Ave and Ochoa Street in downtown Tucson for $1.042 million ($50.84 PSF). The 20,490-square-foot parking lot was purchased for development of row housing from De La Warr Investment Corporation of Tucson, an affiliate of Arizona Autoparks. (Geoffrey Shepard, president).

Details of the project, including number of units, was not available at time of publication. Evan Eglin of Eglin + Bresler Architects in Tucson is working on the initial plans and should know more next week.

Holualoa Companies is a real estate investment firm headquartered in Tucson, focused on the successful acquisition, repositioning, redevelopment and disposition of underperforming real estate assets. Its investments span the United States and Europe and include office, retail, industrial, multi-family, hotel and mixed-use investment properties. Holualoa Companies is an experienced, opportunistic investor for its own account and on behalf of a select group of private investors.

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NORTHWEST SUBMARKET

AOMS OVB Realty, LLC an affiliate of Arizona Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons (Dr. Nicholas Coles and Dr. Robert Wood, managers) bought land at Innovation Park for $244,125 ($33.28 PSF) from Innovation Corporate Center (Jordan Simon, manager). The 7,336-square-foot lot represents half of a four-unit multitenant office building being constructed by Venture West, a leading commercial developer in Tucson.

Jordan Simon, manager, at Venture West explained that the buyer already occupies space at Tanque Verde Place, another of Venture West’s projects and wanted to find a second location in the Northwest. “After showing them every office up and down Oracle Road, they kept coming back to the opportunities and benefits a built-to-suit at Innovation Park offered,” Simon told us.

Being strategically located just north of Northwest Medical Center and Oro Valley Marketplace in Oro Valley Simon told us the majority of recent interest has been for medical use, but it is a mixed-use development offering 100,000-square-feet of professional office sites, in buildings from 1,500 to 40,000-square-feet.

In addition to this sale there are another two or three other buyers at this time at Innovation Park.

Login or see RED Comp #2713 for additional information.

To learn more Simon can be reached at 520.722.9292.

[mepr-show rules=”58038″]201 S Stone Ave parking lot – Sale date 3/5/2015, all cash deal. APN: 117-13-176, 177 & 178
1876 E Innovation Park Drive – Sale date: 3/5/2015. Buyer put $165,134 down and financed the balance with conventional financing. APN: 219-55-005 & 006.[/mepr-show]