Vestar Awarded Management of 33-Acre Mixed-Use Westgate City Center

GLENDALE, AZ – Following a rocky period topped off by repossession and foreclosure, the mixed-use, 33-acre Westgate City Center is now being managed by Vestar Development Co. Teetsel Properties, Westgate’s asset manager, retained Vestar to help regenerate the office-and –retail asset.

Teetsel Properties has also put into place a new office leasing team led by Brad Anderson and Bryan Taute of CBRE and a retail leasing team led by the Corritore Co.’s John Corritore and Golden St. John.  The 10-building, close to 400,000-square-foot, office and retail center is located near Glendale Avenue and Loop 101, adjacent to the Jobring.com arena (home of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team) and the University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals professional football team plays.

The center has struggled for several years because of developer Ellman Cos.’ financial woes. Jeff Teetsel, principal with Teetsel Properties, didn’t sugarcoat the situation. However, “our message, going forward to the brokerage community is that we’re open for business,” he says. “We have institutional ownership with capital to spend on TIs and leasing commissions. We have a handle on where the market is right now. And we’re putting the new teams into place to get the leasing done.”

Where the market is right now is still somewhat sluggish, though there are some glimmers that things are turning around. Teetsel tells GlobeSt.com that it’s no surprise that the West Valley office market has been soft for years, though leasing activity is starting to pick up while vacancies are inching south.  The office component totals 130,000 square feet, of which 65% is occupied.

And on the retail front, things are looking even stronger.  “There are some tenants there that are doing exceptionally well and others that are leaders within their brand in the marketplace,” Teetsel says. “I think a great many of them derive great benefit from the events, whether hockey games, concerts or football games.” The 260,000-square-foot retail space is 75% occupied.

 Teetsel says his company has conducted interviews with many of the tenants and is working with Vestar on converting the feedback into positive action.  While the tenants seem to do well on the weekends, when events are nearby, “they told us they could use help stimulating traffic on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; daytime traffic,” Teetsel remarks. “Those are the areas where we’ll focus the energies to make a difference.”

Those energies of which Teetsel speaks will be focused on weekday events, such as the first Tree Lighting Ceremony, free ice skating during Black Friday weekend following Thanksgiving and other holiday oriented activities with a variety of themes such as Sing for Bling and the Naughty or Nice Bar Crawl.

Nor is Teetsel ruling out any physical upgrades to the location. “We have the capital to spruce things up, and are going through a strategic evaluation of everything from small to large,” he says. Some improvements have already been made in lighting, landscaping and areas around the kiosks and pushcarts.

Though the woes of Westgate City Center have been well-publicized in recent years, Vestar’s management will help turn things around. Vestar’s management resume is almost like a “who’s who” of assets – it has developed and is managing Tempe Marketplace and Desert Ridge Marketplace. Furthermore, Teetsel points out, Corritore has worked on behalf of well-known specialty retail properties including Scottsdale Quarer and Casa Paloma while the CBRE leasing team is one of the top teams in the West Valley.

As such, Teetsel believes the new personnel will help generate positive excitement for an asset that’s seen enough negativity to last for awhile. “One of the things coming with new ownership is open eyes and open ears and the ability to look at things and see them in a new light,” he adds.