PHOENIX-After buying and developing in California for the past 20 years, Primestor Development Inc. (the administrative/development arm of Primestor Properties) is starting to push east. Specifically, on the local front, the Los Angeles-based company, which specializes in urban and Hispanic markets, recently acquired the 99,678-square-foot El Monte Plaza from Michael A. Pollack Real Estate Investments for just under $10 million.

The transaction represented Primestor's first area move and according to Alan Araki, who oversees the company's investment and capital market activities, he'd like to become more active in Phoenix. "We're looking very closely there," he tells GlobeSt.com. "The goal for 2013 is to acquire three more properties in Phoenix."

The one on which Primestor just closed is at 8831-8951 N. 19^th Ave., at the intersection of 19^th and Dunlap Avenues with El Rancho Market as its anchor.  Araki says the buy made sense because the property was stable. "Michael (Pollack) did a terrific job of buying a broken center, rehabbing it and putting in new tenants," Araki explains. "Michael is a value developer himself, he did the hard work, and it ended up a stable, core type of property. That's what I was looking for for the initial Phoenix investment; something stable, that would allow us to get into the market."

Now that Primestor is in the market, just about anything retail is fair game, from core stabilized properties to ground-up development. As long as the assets are in urban areas that are either underserved or in need of regentrification, Primestor is game. "A huge part of our strategy and platform is working with and understanding Hispanic communities," Araki says. That understanding includes specifically working with communities, and their municipal governments, to ensure the right property and tenant mix is in the area. "Part of the art in the development business is finding that right mix of tenants, and bringing in the national, regional and local tenants," Araki observes.

Phoenix is not Primestor's only targeted location for expansion. Araki says the company has started to invest in Las Vegas and, over time, would like to venture into Texas. "Primestor is in a high-growth mode right now," he says. "We've secured lots of equity to make acquisitions, and along with that, we're growing our personnel. We're looking for quality people to staff various departments."