2014 was a whirlwind year for retail real estate sales, Tucson saw December sales of almost $42 million. This growth trend is welcomed to 2015. January started the year with $30.5 million in sales and February was even better with over $64.4 million in retail property sales. Last year’s average monthly sales hovered around $22 million.

Some industry insiders point to the readily available retail real estate in second and third tier markets to watch for high growth this year. Retailers willing to look to new markets or redevelopment of former space will find competition more manageable than in Class A real estate in major markets, while high prices may be driving them to look elsewhere.

Retail development historically follows job growth and migration patterns. The traditional formula is: where there are jobs, there will be population growth followed by retail growth, according to traditional market dynamics. However, there are some industry experts suggesting that moving forward, the U.S. may actually experience labor shortages, creating a situation in which jobs chase people. This could mean that second tier cities popular with Millennials, such as Tucson, will see an even greater influx of jobs and development as the young professionals in these cities draw development to them rather than going toward areas that are already highly developed and something retailers are watching closely.

Judging by these and other recent retail sales, Tucson may be close to having its best post-recession year yet.

Hughes Federal Credit Union bought a former M&I Bank building at 7820 N Cortaro Road in Marana for $1.15 million ($243.54 PSF). The 4,722-square-foot building was built for M&I in 2005 and was sold after BMO Harris Bank acquired M&I Ilsley Bank. The building in October sold for $700,000 and resold four months later for $1.15 million.

The building was already built-out as a bank branch, with two overhead drive-thru lanes, 32 surface parking spaces, and even the vault left intact.

Paul Serafin and Carl Jones, Jr. with De Rito Partners in Phoenix represented the seller, DROF I-9 LLC (Marty De Rito) of Phoenix and Brian Harpel of The Harpel Company in Tucson represented Hughes Federal Credit Union in the transaction.

To learn more Serafin and Jones should be contacted at 480.834.8500 and Harpel at 520.721.7999. See also RED Comp #2699.

In an unrelated transaction, the retail center at 5524-5546 E Grant Road in Tucson sold for $805,000 ($63.52 PSF). The 12,674-square-foot center was mostly vacant at time of sale, with one tenant, ETC Compliance Solutions. Built in 1984, the property sits on a 1.16 acre lot anchored by Safeway and Ross Dress For Less at the busy intersection of Grant and Craycroft.

The buyer purchased to refurbish the property for office and retail use.

Steffan Cione with the Cione Company in Tucson represented the seller, Mark and Sandra Bequette of Sequim, WA. Robert Nolan with Oxford Realty Advisors represented the buyer, Maqsood and Sabina Enterprises LLC (Maqsood Ahmad) of Tucson.

To learn more contact Cione at 520.344.9463. Nolan is aggressively marketing the property for lease from 1,080 – 6,020-square-feet for the new owner. Nolan should be contacted at 520.323.0200 for more information. See also RED Comp #2503.

Locally-owned, Industrial Chemical Arizona (ICA) will owner occupy the property at 4143 E Speedway Blvd in Tucson. The REO property sold for $235,000 ($37.60 PSF) to Jason and Amanda Tobak, owners of ICA. The company provides cleaning supplies to Tucson contractors, businesses and homeowners and was in need of larger space. It has 36 years of experience in purchasing supplies from the top manufacturers in the country. The company is headed by Amanda Tobak, a Tucson native who holds a master’s degree in Business Administration.

The 6,250-square-foot building was constructed in 1980 on a .54 acre lot.

Jim Marian, CCIM, and Juan Teran, CCIM, of Chapman Lindsey Commercial Real Estate Services represented the Commerce Bank of Arizona and Nancy McClure and Michael Laatsch of CBRE in Tucson represented the buyer.

To learn more Marian and Teran should be reached at 747-4000 while McClure and Laatsch can be contacted at 520.323.5100. See also RED Comp #2546.

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[mepr-show rules=”58038″]7820 N Coraro, Hughes Federal Credit Union – Sale date: 2/27/2015, all cash deal. APN: 226-27-019D
5524-5546 E Grant Road – Sale date 2/2/2015, $203,000 down seller carryback for balance. APN: 121-05-024A
4143 E Speedway – Sale date: 2/6/2015, all cash deal. APN: 122-13-025 & 025.[/mepr-show]

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in March fell two points to a level of 53 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released Monday.

“Even with this slight slip, the HMI remains in positive territory and we expect the market to improve as we enter the spring buying season,” said NAHB Chairman Tom Woods, a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo.

“The drop in builder confidence is largely attributable to supply chain issues, such as lot and labor shortages as well as tight underwriting standards,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “These obstacles notwithstanding, we are expecting solid gains in the housing market this year, buoyed by sustained job growth, low mortgage interest rates and pent-up demand.”

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 30 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Two of the three HMI components posted losses in March. The component gauging current sales conditions fell three points to 58 while the component measuring buyer traffic dropped two points to 37. The gauge charting sales expectations in the next six months held steady at 59.

Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Northeast and South each posted a two-point drop to 43 and 55, respectively. The Midwest rose two points to 56, while the West fell seven points to 61.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Commercial real estate developer SimonCRE announces the recent hire of Jeff Lee as Vice President of Development. Jeff Lee comes to SimonCRE with over 25 years of professional experience in commercial real estate development.

Lee brings a wealth of knowledge and invaluable experience to SimonCRE having held positions as real estate development manager, project manager, tenant coordinator and property manager with some of the most reputable commercial real estate firms in Arizona.

“It’s exciting to add someone with such tenure, professionalism and experience to the team,” said Joshua Simon, president and founder of SimonCRE. “Jeff is an incredible addition to the team and will be impactful in perfecting our processes, managing our resources and growing our portfolio of projects.”

Some of Lee’s most recent notable projects include managing the real estate, leasing and store development for Goodwill of Central Arizona and 2.4 million square feet of retail anchor stores, training centers, retail donation sites, recycling and transportation centers and commercial maintenance facilities.

Lee’s fundamental role with SimonCRE will consist of development management of all new projects in several states from inception to completion. Lee will coordinate and manage all vendor relationships and approvals and work closely with clients to design projects that exceed SimonCRE expectations.

Lee led development and management of all commercial assets for Miller Holdings and Matrixx Management for over 6 years and was instrumental in managing all project design and leasing activity. Previous noteworthy experience includes project management and tenant coordination of several notable regional malls and neighborhood shopping centers throughout the Valley while at Westcor/Macerich. Lee also brings more than 10 years of experience as a project and property manager as he managed several high profile projects while working with DMB Associates.

SimonCRE is a full service commercial real estate development company that has developed and leased more than two million square feet of retail space all over the United States. The firm specializes in retail ground up development, redevelopment, and single tenant build-to-suits. SimonCRE has over $40 Million in construction projects planned in seven states in 2015, including 25 build to suits. SimonCRE is headquartered at 5111 N. Scottsdale Rd, Suite 200, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85250. For more information, call 480.745.1956 and visit www.SimonCRE.com