Scottsdale Bureau Pens $1.6M Galleria Lease

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-The Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau will get the high-profile office space it was looking for when it moves in March 2003 into 11,336 sf at the Galleria Corporate Centre.

“They wanted a high-profile location and you can’t get much higher profile than the Galleria,” Kevin Calihan of the Phoenix office for CB Richard Ellis Inc. tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s a great location.” The seven-year lease, which took about a year to negotiate, is worth almost $1.6 million over the term.

Currently located in city-owned space at 7343 Scottsdale Mall, the group’s offices were becoming cramped when they first began looking at the Galleria about a year ago, Calihan said. The 607,000-sf former shopping mall at 4343 N. Scottsdale Rd.was being renovated into an office-and-retail complex at the time but fit the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s need for a high-profile facility with adequate parking, he said.

In addition to Calihan, Tom Adelson, Jim Fijan, Jerry Roberts, all of CB Richard Ellis’ Phoenix office, represented the building owner, Scottsdale Acquisition LLC of New York City, in the transaction. The tenant was assisted by Chris Jantz from the Phoenix office of Insignia/ESG.

The Galleria, now one of the premier locations in Scottsdale, sat vacant for years until New York developer JEMB bought the property from Excell Legacy for $29 million in July 2000 and began a $65-million renovation. That redesign has won several awards for its innovative revamping from shopping mall to offices and boutiques.

Among the building’s tenants are the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, New York Life Insurance, American Founders Life Insurance and ADS Communications. Calihan said another lease for 10,000 sf is pending and should bring the Galleria up to 50% occupancy.