The Phoenix is a mythical bird that burns to ashes, only to be reborn again and again. The city that bears its name consistently does the exact same thing. However, unlike the mysticism and magic implied in the bird rising from its own ashes, the city’s recurrent rebirth is rooted in simple math and the basic laws of supply and demand. Starting with the most critical component of the supply side of the equation… Read more »

The Phoenix Office market ended the second quarter 2014 with a vacancy rate of 17.7%. The vacancy rate was down over the previous quarter, with net absorption totaling positive 285,140 square feet in the second quarter. That compares to positive 792,884 square feet in the first quarter 2014. Vacant sublease space decreased in the quarter… Read more »

Arizona’s unemployment rate was up a bit in June to 6.9 percent, but down from 8.1 percent a year ago, according to the Arizona Department of Administration Office of Employment and Population Statistics. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in May, which meant that Arizona lost 39,500 non-farm jobs in June… Read more »

Gilbert’s vision for an enormous employment center along the Santan Freeway is gaining steam with the announcement of a corporate headquarters and about 400 jobs in a relocation of health-product company Isagenix International from Chandler. Isagenix, a network-marketing company with a presence in 11 countries, will be the first major tenant in the Rivulon mixed-use center near… Read more »

After picking up the pieces and deciding to complete two broken multi-family projects in the Valley, iStar Residential hopes to do the same with the Artesia community in Scottsdale. In fact, the division of iStar Financial is so confident in the potential for the project, that the company wants to add another 204 units to the community. If successful in its zoning request, the 480 residences… Read more »

Palo Alto, California-based Theranos is expanding to Scottsdale, leasing a 20,000-square-foot wing at the newest SkySong building and hiring more than 500 people to staff the new operations. Sharon Harper, president and CEO of Plaza Cos., the master developer of the SkySong project at Scottsdale and McDowell roads, said Theranos is exactly the kind of company the projects seeks… Read more »

In a pair of consecutive sales, a joint venture between San Diego-based Midtown Niki Group (MNG) and the locally-based Pederson Group purchased four single-tenant and two multi-tenant retail buildings for a combined $7.92m or $187.60 per square foot. The single-tenant portion was acquired with… Read more »

The former Motorola semiconductor plant site in west Mesa, which closed more than a decade ago and has since evolved into a successful industrial center, will get a major expansion later this year when construction begins on the project’s final phase… Read more »

Trammell Crow Company and venture partner Principal Real Estate Investors announce they will develop a 219,000-square-foot industrial park in Deer Valley. The complex will be situated on a 14-acre parcel at the northeast corner of 7th Street and Covey Lane in the Spectrum Ridge master-planned park in Deer Valley. Preliminary site plans show… Read more »

Summer’s traditionally when moving vans clog the streets as people try to get settled in new homes and apartments before the school year starts. Renters looking for an affordable lease this year may have a tough time finding one. Trulia’s Chief Economist Jed Kolko compared newly released wage data to current rents and found that rents increased faster than pay in all of the 25 largest metro areas over the past year… Read more »

U.S. strip mall vacancies fell slightly in the second quarter, while retail mall vacancies remained unchanged, real estate research firm Reis Inc said in a report. The national vacancy rate for strip malls was 10.3 percent, down from 10.4 percent in the first quarter and 10.5 percent in the second quarter of 2013… Read more »

Jeff Blandford of Blandford Homes as acquired 128.76 acres of unimproved land at the northeast corner of Guadalupe and Crismon Roads in Mesa comprising parcels one through four of the five parcel, 172.5 acre Crescent Ridge master-planned community. The $21,623,412 purchase price for 552 final platted lots equates to $167,934 per acre… Read more »

Shoppers near Chandler Boulevard and Price Road have more options with recent additions to the Chandler 101 Centers. The plaza welcomed a new Pier 1 Imports, Cheddar’s Casual Café, Conn’s Home Plus and DXL (Destination XL). Pier 1 sells an eclectic mix of imported home furnishings and gifts… Read more »

On behalf of Clarion Partners, the Phoenix office of JLL has completed a 93,489-square-foot lease with Benson Industries, LLC at Durango Commerce Center in Phoenix. The deal represents one of the largest industrial lease transactions in Phoenix’s Southwest Valley submarket this year. It also brings the 670,000-square-foot, two-building Durango Corporate Center to 91% occupied… Read more »

After receiving close to a dozen offers during the 30-day marketing period, ORION Investment Real Estate announces the closing of Plaza Fountainside located at 12645 North Saguaro Blvd. in Fountain Hills for $4.1 million ($178 per square foot) to LIPA, LLC and KUNA, LLC, family partnerships with principals in California and Arizona. The seller was Pinciero, LLC out of Calgary, Alberta… Read more »

Life companies’ commercial mortgage portfolios posted a 2.43% total return in the first quarter of 2014, improving over Q4 2013’s performance of 0.38% while also stronger than the year-ago total return of 1.995%, according to the LifeComps Commercial Mortgage Loan Index released Monday. The data have been collected quarterly from participating insurers since 1996… Read more »

Less than six months after a certificate of substantial completion was recorded against the property—indicating that the property was fully constructed and ready for occupants—Avenue 25 Apartments in Phoenix sold for $35.4m or nearly $140k per unit. The buyer was TruAmerica, in the person of its CFO, Karen Millan, who paid $10.62m in cash and financed the remaining $24.78m in purchase price with Capital One… Read more »

Compadre Stadium will soon be replaced by a residential community. On Monday, the Chandler City Council approved an ordinance rezoning the land that Compadre Stadium sits on to be residential property and allow Standard Pacific Homes to build houses on the land at the southeast corner of Ocotillo and Alma School roads…Read more »

A former commercial center in Sun City enters a new phase in its redevelopment into a medical complex, reports the Daily News-Sun. Medical group American Integrated Physicians, which bought Sun City’s Thunderbird Plaza two years ago, soon will begin a second phase of redevelopment for the retail center-turned-medical campus…Read more »

A company formed by CIRE Equity in La Jolla, Calif. (Joshua Volen and Trevor Smith, principals) paid $19 million ($134.36 per foot) to purchase a 141,407-square-foot shopping center located at the northeast corner of Lower Buckeye Road and 99th Avenue in the Tolleson area of west Phoenix. The seller was Pecan Holdings LLC, a company formed by Tate Capital Real Estate Solutions LLC in North Miami, Fla… Read more »

Three tenant-in-common entities paid $38.7 million ($172,000 per unit) to acquire the 225-unit Block 1949 student housing property located east of Arizona State University at 1949 E. University Drive in Tempe. The new owners of the 640-bed complex have renamed the project Regents on University. Two of the three buyers, accounting for 85 percent ownership, are… Read more »

The U.S. retail real estate market improved in the second quarter (Q2) of 2014 as a lack of new construction helped landlords boost rents and lower vacancies, according to the latest data. Vacancies at U.S. strip centers were 10.3 percent in the second quarter, down 0.10 percentage point from the first quarter, according to research firm Reis Inc. Strip-center vacancies are now nearly a percentage point lower than the post-recession…Read more »

Lincoln Property Company has signed a 30,000-square-foot lease with a nationally platformed technology tenant at the Camelback Square office project in Downtown Scottsdale. The confidential tenant commitment brings the Class A building to 95 percent occupancy… Read more »

Of the 30 largest cities in the United States, Phoenix had the nation’s largest decrease in home ownership from 2000 to 2012. The nearly 8 percentage-point drop in home ownership in Phoenix over that time-span was only rivaled by the 7.1 percentage-point drop in Philadelphia, according to a report released by Pew Charitable Trusts… Read more »

Chandler’s City Council is slated to give final approval this week to Ascend at Chandler Airport Center, a three building proposal from Irgens Partners LLC to build a 526KSF office campus with warehousing, flex buildings and office space. The concept has the square footage spread between a four-story office building with nearly 300KSF across the four floors, an office-warehouse facility with 136KSF and a 95KSF warehouse/distribution center…Read more »