SCOTTSDALE, AZ-In about a week's time, an investment group has deployed 1031 exchange proceeds from retail sales into the $97.5-million acquisition of a mixed-use portfolio. The off-market transaction included a loan assumption.
SPI AZ LLC combined $16.8 million from the Sept. 12 sale of the 82,100-sf Thunderbird Village with additional gains from property sales in California to acquire the 189,967-sf Scottsdale Seville at 7001 N. Scottsdale Rd. and 148,773-sf La Mirada at 8900 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd. The investment group has main offices in Burlingame, CA and Phoenix.
Patrick Dempsey, principal with Phoenix-based Lee & Associates Arizona, says the seller, Desert Troon Ltd. LLC from Scottsdale, sold the assets to reinvest into other projects. "They've been active in commercial acquisition and have done well purchasing properties and repositioning them," he tells GlobeSt.com. "This portfolio sale is a result of that hard work. They'd added some value to it, then sold it." He and Lee & Associates colleagues Jan Fincham and Kevin Kopp brokered both sides of the transaction.
Dempsey says the buyer liked the portfolio's strong potential upside. "The uniqueness of this portfolio is that each of the properties as a high-end retail component mixed with quality office space," he tells GlobeSt.com.
At sale time, the 10-year-old La Mirada, consisting of two-thirds retail space, was 90% occupied. Scottsdale Seville, built in 1990, had 93% of its retail space leased and 60% of the office component. The higher office vacancy is due to homebuilder DR Horton Inc.'s recent relocation of its regional office.
Dempsey says the buyer will focus on repositioning the assets, especially Seville's office space. The new owners have retained Steve Kohls and Steve Whitehead in Lee & Associates' Phoenix office to lease the office space. The retail contract is pending.
"With Horton gone, they're taking the opportunity while there's a huge chunk of space to bring common areas and the building standard up to class A," Dempsey says. And, he adds, both retail and office prospects have shown interest in leasing spots in the properties.
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