Lee & Associates principal Patrick A. Dempsey says an all-cash offer is why Pacific Castle Inc. of Irvine, CA ended up with the center at 1180 W. Elliot Rd. He teamed with colleague Jan P. Fincham, also a principal, to broker the deal, which took 90 days start to finish.

"The center is immediately adjacent to the I-10 freeway in Tempe, which is a very tight submarket as far as retail space," Dempsey tells GlobeSt.com. "The submarket has a less than 5% vacancy, which was very attractive to all the bidders."

Dempsey adds that 95%-leased center's rents are 10% to 50% below market, meaning there is good upside potential. "The buyer won't have to do any major capital improvements to the property, but is moving forward on additional development," he says. The deal included a pad site, which the new owner plans to develop with 8,000 sf more retail space. He says Pacific Castle is working through the permitting process so no construction date has been set as yet.

Groves Shopping Center is adjacent to a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Tenants include More Furniture for Less, OfficeMax, Dollar Tree, JC Penney Home Furnishings Store, Subway and Payless ShoeSource. Pacific Castle has in-house teams for management and leasing.

Groves Shopping Center was part of the Price Legacy Corp. portfolio, which was acquired in 2004 by New Hyde Park, NY-based Kimco and DRA of New York City. Dempsey says the joint venture, which operates under the name PL Groves LLC, is selling some of its assets nationwide.