Joint Venture Picks Up Office Project Along Camelback Corridor

PHOENIX-A joint venture has purchased an office complex in one of the hottest areas in the Valley for $30.6 million.

Phoenix-based Artemis Realty, L&B Realty Advisors of Dallas and Phoenix-based Sun Chase Capital has joined forces to purchase Camel Square, an 11-building office complex at the northwestern corner of Camelback Road and 44th Street.

The 11 buildings in the complex have a total of 295,000 sf, and another 110,000-sf building is planned for the site. The complex was first developed in 1969.

The joint venture plans a major renovation of the complex.

Given the square footage of the complex, the deal equates to $104 per sf, seemingly a good value given that office space just two miles down the road is selling for as much as $200 per sf.

The complex is at the end of a office submarket known as the Camelback Corridor, easily the most sought after office space in the Valley and the site of much of the Class A office development in the past few years. Class A space along the corridor, which runs from 16th Street to 44th Street on Camelback Road, leases for more than $30 per sf.

The complex was sold by a partnership made up of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Capital and the Rubin Companies.