Apartment and industrial deals continue to dominate the Southwest market. This week, the Inland Empire saw a $30 million lease transaction in the Inland Empire and several apartment deals in Phoenix, which continue to drive the market activity there. Additionally, the industrial market in Phoenix has also picked up, with positive net absorption for the year and a strong third quarter performance. Here's a look at this week's trends, announcements and deals that you may have missed in Southern California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Phoenix industrial market had 2.4 million square feet of positive net absorption in the third quarter, bringing the year-to- date gain to more than 6.8 million square feet. Total vacancy fell to 9.2%, down 140 basis points since the third quarter of last year. Chandler Airport led all Phoenix submarkets at 24.2% vacancy and Chandler was third at 17.1%. Northwest Phoenix was the tightest submarket cluster, at 6.9% vacancy, with West Phoenix North of Thomas Road showing the lowest vacancy rate of all submarkets at 3.0%, and West Phoenix South of Thomas Road close behind at 3.6%. Vacancies declined despite 1.7 million square feet of new deliveries during the third quarter, and with 4.5 million square feet of inventory currently under construction, there could be a temporary easing in the growth. Asking rental rates for all industrial properties rose to $0.59 per square foot on a triple-net basis, which represents a 7.3% year-over- year increase in rates. Total sales activity this quarter was consistent with the past few periods, amassing $335 million in dollar volume, up from $246 million during the second quarter. The median sale price for industrial assets stayed at $93 per square foot. The median cap rate was 6.9%, down from 7.1% at this time last year.

(SOURCE: KIDDER MATTHEWS)

NEW & NOTABLE
IRVINE, CA—Westport Properties has hired Ben Hall as VP of Acquisitions. Hall will focus on helping the Company grow its portfolio on the East Coast. WPI operates self-storage facilities under the brand US Storage Centers. Hall joins Westport from Heitman Capital Management in Chicago, IL where, as a part of the acquisitions group, he helped put together joint ventures in the student housing and self-storage sectors totaling almost $1 billion in total transaction volume. He received a finance degree from the University of Iowa and holds the distinguished designation as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

FOOTHILL RANCH—Stirling Development has named Gordon L. Cope as director of financial planning and accounting. In his new role, Cope will work closely with the executive team on all finance, accounting, treasury, tax, and administrative functions. Reporting to Brian Parno, Stirling's COO, he will also be responsible for budgeting, tax planning, and financial review of all of Stirling's overall business activities and active projects including Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) project in Victorville, Ocean Ranch Corporate Centre in Oceanside, as well as analyzing and forecasting potential new projects. Prior to joining Stirling, Cope served as a tax manager with Haskell & White LLP, a Southern California public accounting firm specializing in real estate. He has also held positions with international public accounting firm KPMG LLP and Goldman Sachs Inc. Cope is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated from the University of Utah earning both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in Accounting.

DEALTRACKER

ONTARIO—Empire Corporate Center, an 80,066-square-foot, four-story office property located at 800 Haven Street in Ontario, CA, has traded hands for $16.5 million. The class-A office property is currently 83% occupied. NKF's Capital Markets President, West Coast Kevin Shannon, Executive Managing Director Ken White, and Managing Director Michael Moore, represented the seller TA Associates and the buyer MGR Services.

LOS ANGELES— The Luzzato Company secured construction financing and preferred equity for the development of a creative office development totaling 80,340 square feet at 12414 Exposition Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The HFF team worked on behalf of the borrower to secure a non-recourse construction loan with a national bank in conjunction with raising preferred equity to fill the capital stack. The project, also known as Expo Station, is currently under construction. Expo Station will serve as an example of premium creative office space in West Los Angeles, adjacent to the Metro's Exposition Line, with easy access to downtown Los Angeles and the heart of Santa Monica. The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower included senior managing director Paul Brindley, senior director Jeff Sause and associate Ryan Ash.

PALM SPRINGS—A 175-unit apartment property in Palm Springs, California has traded hands for $20.5 million between the Bascom Group and Westview Group. CBRE's Stewart Weston, John Montakab, Paul Runkle and Eric Chen represented the buyer and the seller in the deal. The site features 68 studios, 67 one- and 50 two-bedroom apartments across four buildings. New rents at the property have risen 10 percent over the past year due to strong demand and adjacency to retail and proximity to dining and entertainment venues in downtown Palm Springs.

CHINO—Apparel manufacturer Topson Downs has signed a 10-year lease at a newly constructed 442,920 square-foot distribution warehouse in Chino, California. DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services' Gus Andros, EVP at DAUM's Inland Empire office and Andrew Lara, a first VP at DAUM's South Bay office, completed the lease for a total consideration of $30 million. The tenant was especially drawn to the location of the building, which offers close proximity to five freeways: I-15, SR 60, SR 91, SR 71, and SR 83. Other features include the facility's easy access to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and well as its modern features, which met the tenant's needs for a cross-docking distribution center, according to Andros.

PHOENIX—Capital Real Estate has purchased Tempe Vista, a 186-unit apartment community located at 2045 E. Broadway Road in Tempe for $20.5 million. Brett Polachek from the Cushman & Wakefield Phoenix office represented the seller, Phoenix-based 2045 Broadway Communities. Tempe Vista is a garden-style, 20-building community totaling 160,453 square feet and includes a clubhouse, community coffee bar, cyber café with Wi-Fi, workout facility, dog park and two swimming pools. Built in 1972, and fully renovated in 2008, the community offers one- and two-bedroom floor plans with an average unit size of 863 square feet. Each unit features a fully equipped kitchen with energy efficient appliances, modern light fixtures and hardware, spacious closets and private balconies/patios.

LOS ANGELES—Walker & Dunlop has rate locked a $116 million Fannie Mae Green Rewards loan on a behalf of the borrower RW Selby & Co. The debt was provided to refinance The Heights Luxury Apartments, a class-A multifamily property in Los Angeles, California. Walker & Dunlop's team was able to begin the due diligence process ahead of time, proactively completing the appropriate inspections, third party reports, and Fannie Mae High Performance Building Report. The team, led by Managing Director Trevor Fase, was therefore in a position to rate lock at the optimal time for the Borrower. When a short-term drop in the treasury occurred the day before a holiday weekend, the team quickly leveraged the Fannie Mae Streamlined Rate Lock execution to lock the interest rate on an unprecedented timeline.

PHOENIX—IMT Deer Valley Village, a 832-unit institutionally-maintained multifamily community located at 3010 W. Yorkshire Drive in Phoenix, AZ, has traded hands. West Palm Beach, FL-based Priderock Capital purchased the property from San Francisco, CA-based IMT Capital. Tyler Anderson, Sean Cunningham, Asher Gunter and Matt Pesch with CBRE's Phoenix office represented the seller in the transaction. Built in two phases in 1996 and 2000, IMT Deer Valley Village is a highly amenitized garden-style multifamily community featuring expansive lawns, three resort-style swimming pools with spas, two upscale clubhouses, two fully-equipped fitness centers and a dog park. Spacious one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans have nine-foot ceilings (Phase II), well-appointed kitchens, walk-in closets, washer/dryers and private patios/balconies. The community has mostly original finish levels throughout.

Los Angeles—Logan Capital Advisors has acquired a two-property apartment portfolio for $33 million in California's Inland Empire from TruAmerica Multifamily. Jim Fisher and Mike Smith of Berkadia along with Dean Zander, formerly of Berkadia, who joined CBRE in July, brokered the deal. Jim Fisher and Mike Smith had previously sold the two properties to TruAmerica in 2015. CBRE also arranged the interest-only debt for Logan. The buildings are located at 2270 Cahuilla Street and 1333 Reche Canyon in Colton. Reche Ridge is a 110-unit apartment complex, and 1333 Canyon is a 104-unit apartment home property. The 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units average 800 square feet, and both properties include features such as a pool, laundry facilities, balconies or patios and a dog park.

HENDERSON, NV—Precision Equity LLC has acquired Stephanie Promenade, a 105,500 SF retail complex located on 10.09 acres in Henderson, Nevada. Built in 2002-2003 and located at 205-245 North Stephanie Street, Stephanie Promenade was designed and built to serve the Las Vegas suburbs of Green Valley and Henderson. Today, virtually every major retailer is located within the vibrant and active Stephanie street retail corridor.

LOS ANGELES—PCCP, LLC has provided a $41.2 million senior loan for the refinance and lease-up of make, a class-A creative office campus totaling 176,900 square feet in Carlsbad, a coastal city within San Diego County. Mark McGovern and Scott Peterson of CBRE arranged the financing. Located at 5600 Avenida Encinitas, Cruzan acquired the 1960s vintage warehouse property in 2013. The San Diego-based development and investment company embarked on an extensive program to transform the asset into one of region's most coveted creative office campuses. Cruzan has successfully renovated the asset and increased occupancy from full vacancy to nearly 70 percent occupancy with tenants including GoPro, GoDaddy, Verve Wireless, and Canyon Bicycles.

BUILDING BLOCKS

LONG BEACH—Co-developers Ledcor Properties Inc. and Anderson Pacific LLC, with their partners Qualico and Lantower Residential, have scheduled the ground breaking for Shoreline Gateway, a 35-story, mixed-use luxury apartment complex, in early 2018. Shoreline Gateway is the companion building to “The Current”—the iconic 17-story, mixed-use, 223-unit luxury apartment tower on Ocean Blvd. in Downtown Long Beach. The project will feature 315 ultra-luxury residential apartment homes, along with approximately 6,700 square feet of commercial space, five levels of subterranean parking spaces for 467 vehicles and amenities and community living spaces, including a 33rd floor community room offering amazing 180 degree panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, the Downtown Long Beach skyline and Orange County.

CARSON, CA—HGA Architects and Engineers is designing the new three-story, 91,000-square-foot Science and Innovation building at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. Construction of the $82 million facility is tentatively scheduled to begin in late fall 2017, following the project's groundbreaking on Sept. 28. The Science and Innovation building will comprise facilities for CSUDH's physics, biology and chemistry programs, in addition to a third-floor roof terrace with open collaboration areas and natural work niches throughout. The Science and Innovation building will also house a maker space fabrication laboratory (Fab Lab) on the first floor, which will be supported by outdoor workspaces. The Fab Lab was made possible by a $4 million gift from the Toyota USA Foundation and will be known as the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education.

SAN DIEGO—Ware Malcomb has completed a new restaurant, bar and lounge area of the Kimpton Hotel Palomar located at 1047 5th Avenue in the heart of downtown San Diego. Ware Malcomb was the Architect of Record for the project, in addition to providing brand-enhancing graphics for the interior and exterior design. The project involved the two-story renovation of the restaurant and bar on the first floor of the Hotel Palomar, as well as an open space designed for a combination of private dining, a game room, and a lounge area on the second floor mezzanine level. The Hotel Palomar's new restaurant concept, named Curadero, serves Mexican street food in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. The second floor Arriba Room is an exciting space to hang out featuring a late-night taco window, vintage arcade games, foosball, shuffleboard, and other activities. Mexican-themed artwork and design are woven throughout the space.

Instant Insights /

Middle Market Digest: This Week in Southwest

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