ANTHEM, AZ-A just-completed, 2,700-sf restaurant has been bought by a 1031 exchange investor from Washington. The building, leased for 20 years as a corporate-owned Jack in the Box, has sold for $1.08 million or about $10,000 less than the ask.

Jack in the Box, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, CA, had signed a 20-year ground lease directly with the developer, Peterson Properties of Albuquerque, NM, for $65,000 per year, with a 10% increase in rent every five years, Chris Doty with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co., tells GlobeSt.com. He says the lease, scheduled to expire in 2025, has two five-year options for the building, which is getting ready to open at the intersection of Daisy Mountain Drive and Gavilan Peak Parkway.

"The ground lease was in place for almost a year, but the building wasn't completed until January of '06," says Doty, who represented the buyer, Arizona Investments LLC of Olympia, WA. He says the restaurant's marketing efforts focused on finding "private investor or small partnership, the typical buyer who needs a secure income stream for the next 20 years."

The area, Doty adds, is attractive. "Anthem is a master-planned community. And, this was one of the last pieces of commercial property to be developed in this specific area," he explains. "With home growth going on nearby, this is a really well-located piece of property with high-appreciation value."

Doty says the buyer used proceeds from an apartment building sale in Seattle to purchase the restaurant. "He owns other commercial property in other states and, over time, will likely invest in other single-tenant properties in the Phoenix area," he says. "This happened to be an available property for his exchange and given the location and name recognition of Jack in the Box, ended up being a deal he liked."