Brokerage Firm Leases Floor at New Office Tower

PaineWebber, one of the nation's largest brokerage firms, leased 24,400 sf in Camelback Esplanade V, a 10-story, 230,000-sf Class A office tower at 2555 E. Camelback Rd. in Phoenix. The 10-year lease has a consideration of between $7 million and $8.5 million, based on the prevailing rate for Class A office space along the Camelback Corridor.

Opus West, developer of the $50-million tower currently under construction, has built three of the last office towers on the site. The building is expected to be available by early next year.

New Jersey-based PaineWebber is the third recent lease in the tower, which is filling quickly. Asarco, one of the world's largest copper mining and refinement companies, signed a five-year lease for 23,700 sf of space in Camelback Esplanade, and the Phoenix office of Insignia/ESG signed a 10-year lease for 24,500 sf in the building. The firm has 42 brokers working out of the Phoenix office. Combined, the two lease considerations are valued at $10.65 million.

The intersection of 24th Street and Camelback Road has emerged in the past decade as the center of the Valley's highest profile corporations, having a concentration of financial service, stock brokerage, real estate, and commercial real estate firms. The Valley's three largest brokerage firms--CB Richard Ellis, Grubb & Ellis and Insignia/ESG--are on the corner or very close to it.

Rental rates for office space along the Camelback Corridor, which runs from approximately 16th Street to 44th Street in Phoenix, are among the highest in the Valley, going for $30 per sf and up.

The Phoenix office of CB Richard Ellis, with brokers Jim Fijan, Jerry Roberts and Kevin Calihan, represented Opus in the lease negotiations, while the Phoenix offices of Cushman & Wakefield and Lee & Associates represented PaineWebber.