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Daily News for Commercial Real Estate & Business – August 9, 2011

Here are the news articles you might find interesting today for commercial real estate and business:

Orion Residential Sells Gilbert Apartments for $7.5M Orion Residential sold the 120-Unit Orion at Heritage Square multifamily complex in Gilbert, AZ to Clear Sky Resolution Properties, LP for $7.5 million, or $62,500 per unit. The 111,840-square-foot apartment community consists of one- and two- bedroom units in 15 buildings. It was built in 1984 and was 95 percent occupied at the time of sale. View article…

Whitestone REIT pays $16M for Scottsdale property Whitestone REIT, a real estate investment trust based in Houston, has made its fifth acquisition in the Phoenix area in less than a year. Whitestone paid $16.1 million in cash for Terravita Marketplace at the intersection of Carefree and Scottsdale roads in Scottsdale. The seller was Wilshire Selby Terravita LLC, a partnership controlled by Westwood Financial of Los Angeles. View article…

Scottsdale Design District Trades for $5.2M Andell Holdings LLC has purchased the Scottsdale Design District at 2708 – 2732 N. 68th Street in Scottsdale, AZ for $5.25 million, or about $48 per square foot. The 109,179-square-foot retail center was constructed in 1976. The property was approximately 73 percent occupied at time of sale by well-known interior and architectural design firms. View article…

Gilbert Spectrum Falls building purchased Spondeo Investors LLC has purchased a building with nearly 5,000 square feet of multilevel office space in Spectrum Falls Professional Park. GPE Commercial Advisors represented the seller, Wells Fargo Bank. THE PRICE Scottsdale-based Spondeo purchased Building 3 for $728,019 according to Brooke Askew-Rossi, director of business development at GPE. View article…

Finesse Staffing expands in Phoenix, eyes Tucson Finesse Staffing, which expanded to Phoenix in February, is now eyeing the Tucson market. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based staffing firm just hired Margaret Coyle as an account executive to cover the Phoenix market. She will be responsible for sales, marketing and recruiting new clients. View article…

Phoenix home-electronics company rewired to meet tough times During the past two decades, Phoenix business owner Dennis Sage experienced unemployment, loss of his home and a lack of a paycheck for the first two years after launching Dennis Sage Home Entertainment. But when the collapse of the real-estate market wiped out many of the homebuilders – and the exclusive contracts he had with them that had been his firm’s bread and butter since 1995 – Sage was forced to lay off employees, which was perhaps the most difficult experience of his career. View article…

Big Apple Restaurants files Chapter 11 bankruptcy Bill Johnson’s Big Apple Restaurants, a longtime string of five popular Phoenix eateries, has filed to reorganize in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. CEO Sherry Cameron said the 55-year-old business has suffered from declining sales and falling real-estate values as the Phoenix-area economy deteriorated. “The steps we are taking now are to address current economic challenges in Phoenix,” Cameron said. View article…

Changes made to controversial Peoria Aloravita development After facing several years of stiff opposition from neighboring residents of a proposed mixed-use project in north Peoria, the developer has agreed to increase the lot sizes and restrict it to single-family homes in keeping with the character of the surrounding area. A meeting to outline the latest iteration of what was to be called Tusoul but is now being called the Aloravita master-planned development is set for next week. The developer is David Allsop of Aloravita LLC. View article…

U.S. Downgrade: How Will It Impact Housing Fundamentals? UPDATED to reflect S&P’s Monday morning rating downgrades of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Congress’ last-minute accord to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and avert a default wasn’t enough to save the United States’ AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s. The market’s reaction to the news could have an impact on Treasury yields and with these yields closely tied to mortgage rates, on homebuyers’ borrowing costs. View article…

Apt Sector Still on the Up Apartment market conditions continue to improve across the board, according to the National Multi Housing Council’s (NMHC) latest Quarterly Survey of Apartment Market Conditions. “Demand for apartment residences continues to rise, even as the overall economy remains hampered by the aftermath of the housing bubble,” said NMHC Chief Economist Mark Obrinsky. “For the fifth time in the last six quarters, all four survey measures of market health showed improvement over the prior three months. Markets are tighter, debt and equity capital are more available and sales volume is rising.” View article…

Feel free to contact me regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities or your property.