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Daily News for Commercial Real Estate & Business – May 4, 2012

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

To view the May 2012 Scotsman Guide, click here…

VIAWEST GROUP GENERATES SEVERAL LEASE TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 30 DAYS (I helped with 6,200 SF of the renewals for ViaWest!) ViaWest Group has signed seven leases in the last 30 days. The firm’s two Class-A office buildings in North Scottsdale and its retail plaza in Sun City received a considerable amount of leasing activity resulting in 11,345 sq. ft. in lease renewals and 5,203 sq. ft. in new leases for a total of 16,548 square feet. Excluding the recent purchase of a vacant office building, this brings the occupancy to 99% for ViaWest’s Arizona portfolio. View article…

RED DEVELOPMENT BUYS BORGATA RETAIL PLAZA FROM MACERICH FOR $9.15 MILLION RED Borgata LLC, a company formed by Red Development LLC in Phoenix (Scott Rehorn, Mike Ebert, partners), paid $9.15 million ($97.34 per foot) to buy the 94,000-square-foot Borgata of Scottsdale retail plaza at 6166 N. Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale. The seller of the boutique retail center was TWC Borgata Holdings LLC, a company formed by The Macerich Co. in Santa Monica, Calif. (NYSE: MAC). The nearly fully leased Borgata has 25 tenants, including several restaurants. The plaza was built in phases from 1981 to 2008. The RED Development entity acquired Borgata of Scottsdale with a $7.088 million loan from Alliance Bank. The retail property is the second sold by The Macerich Co. in the past month. View article…

UTAH INVESTOR ADDS TO VALLEY APARTMENT HOLDINGS . . . PAYS $21.646 MILLION FOR 274 UNITS ROC II AZ West Town Court LLC in Murray, Utah (Danuel Stanger, manager) paid $21.646 million ($79,000 per unit) to buy the 274-unit West Town Court apartments at 8400 W. Virginia Avenue in Phoenix. The seller was West Town Court LLC, a venture formed by Walter Eeds of The Greystone Group in Newport Beach, Calif. and Westfield Capital Partners in Denver, Colo. View article…

FRY’s ELECTRONICS BUYING FORMER AUTO DEALERSHIP IN NORTH SCOTTSDALE FOR NEW STORE Fry’s Electronics in San Jose, Calif. (John Fry, David Fry, William Fry, principals) plans to expand in the Valley with a new store in the Scottsdale Airpark. Sources say a partnership formed by principals of Fry’s have a deal under contract to buy a former automobile dealership at 15333 N. Hayden Road. The 12.2-acre parcel is located along the east side of Hayden Road and between 83rd Way and Northsight Boulevard. The property is owned by a trust formed by Joseph Cardinale and Jeannette Cardinale of Monterey, Calif. Word is the buyer is paying $9 million in cash for the property, which will be completely scrapped for the new development. View article…

Another anchor abandons Chandler’s Ocotillo Plaza Big 5 Sporting Goods, the last anchor remaining in Ocotillo Plaza, the shopping center on the northwestern corner of Alma School and Queen Creek roads, is vacating its spot and moving to Arizona Avenue. The store plans to open May 24 across from Hamilton High School, north of Ocotillo Road, and it will again be a neighbor of Target. Target abandoned its store at Alma School and Queen Creek last summer to move across from Hamilton High. The first of the three anchors in the Alma School site, Bashas’, closed earlier. View article…

Surprise’s first bowling alley set to open Developers announced plans for three Surprise bowling alleys over the past four years, and three bowling alleys failed to open. Until now. On May 10, Uptown Alley will debut at the Surprise Pointe shopping center at Litchfield and Waddell roads. The entertainment venue was built literally on the shell of the last failed bowling project, which died in 2009. View article…

Allstate moving 300 people to new downtown Tempe office Allstate Insurance is consolidating three Arizona offices and will bring 300 employees to Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe. Allstate has leased 66,000 square feet at the Tempe Gateway building owned by Vulcan Real Estate. Vulcan’s chairman is Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Inc. and owner of the Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Seahawks sports teams. View article…

Scottsdale hotels, resorts have strong first quarter showing Scottsdale tourism leaders are upbeat after a season that saw growth in hotel occupancy, room rates and revenue. The city’s hotels and resorts outperformed the overall Phoenix market in the first quarter and all other major markets except Miami, New York and Oahu, Hawaii, according to figures from STR, formerly Smith Travel Research. View article…

Market Trend: Phoenix’s Industrial Vacancy Stays at 13.5% The Phoenix Industrial market ended the first quarter 2012 with a vacancy rate of 13.5%. The vacancy rate was unchanged over the previous quarter, with net absorption totaling positive 302,468 square feet in the first quarter. Vacant sublease space increased in the quarter, ending the quarter at 1,420,561 square feet. Rental rates ended the first quarter at $6.12, an increase over the previous quarter. View article…

Arizona among 7 states to add 100,000 private sector jobs in past decade Arizona is one of seven states to add at least 100,000 private sector jobs in the past decade, according to a new On Numbers analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics info. Arizona had more than 2 million private sector jobs in March — or 161,900 more than in March of 2012. View article…

Is this Market ‘Bottom’ a True One that Will Stick? During a CoreLogic economic webinar Thursday, the company’s chief economist, Mark Fleming, Ph. D., was asked if the housing market has hit bottom and will it stick, as reports seem to be speculating. Apparently, the market in recent years was thought to have hit bottom twice before. Fleming noted that this happened in 2010 when prices peaked and year-over-year growth rate was positive. This was also a time when the home buyer tax credit was available. House prices stabilized, but the problem with that, Fleming explained, is that when the tax credit expired, demand disappeared and prices continued to fall again. View article…

CURRENT FOR SALE OPPORTUNITIES:
Bella Vista Retail Center – Investment, multi-tenant retail center. For a brochure, click here…

+/- 43,000 SF Leased Industrial Building in Southern Gardens – Single Tenant Investment opportunity. For more information, click here…

2 Industrial Condos in Bahia Business Park – Owner/User opportunity to purchase 1 or both industrial condos. For more information, click here…

Former TDC Corp HQ – 6515 S Rural Road, Tempe, AZ – Former Corporate HQ for TDC in Tempe, AZ For Sale. For more information, click here…

5051 & 5057 E Thomas Road – (PRICE REDUCED-$295,000 for both buildings!) Former Dentist Office and Former Real Estate Office For Sale/Lease. For a brochure, click here…

7320 N Dreamy Draw – Freestanding Office Building in Squaw Peak Corridor-great owner/user opportunity. For a brochure, click here…

6677 W Thunderbird – BANK OWNED – Grey shell office condo in Glendale. For a brochure, click here…

Kokopelli Springs in St. David, AZ – Investment, 56 unit mobile home park. For a brochure, click here…

2 Acres of Land – Owner/User opportunity to purchase 2 acres of land off of I-10 & 40th Street. For a brochure, click here…

3.64 Acres of Land – BANK OWNED – Infill Development opportunity in Surprise. For a brochure, click here…

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