PHOENIX, ARIZONA – NAI Horizon facilitated the sale of an IT firm’s industrial asset, then helped find the client a smaller warehouse and office space in a highly desirable uptown business plaza.

NAI Horizon Managing Director Laurel Lewis and Senior Vice President Rick Foss represented the seller, Aldante 1, LLC of Peoria, Arizona, in the $1.2 million disposition of its 8,800-SF industrial building at 2901 W. Clarendon in Phoenix. Mora REI LLC of Temecula, California, was the buyer.

Lewis then represented the tenant, Accram, Inc. (Aldante 1, LLC), in long-term leases at 2423 E. Peoria Ave. (an industrial building, 1,400 SF) and at 7227 N. 16th St. (an office, 2,945 SF), both in Phoenix.

The two leases totaled more than $427,000. The landlord at the Peoria Avenue property is Phoenix Gateway Partners and the landlord at the 16th Street office building – Pointe Business Plaza – is Bogle Family Realty LLLP.

“Selling the industrial building was a great return on investment for the client. It then provided the opportunity to find and lease a smaller warehouse space and office space with all the fixtures in an ideal location,” Lewis said. “Finding office space with furniture in uptown Phoenix, where the client wanted to be, put a nice finishing touch on these three transactions.”

Founded in 1981, Accram is a locally owned technology solution provider. Accram provides information technology services. It offers cloud, IT consulting, remote monitoring, firewall and virus protection, data storage, printer, and structural cabling services. Accram serves customers in the U.S.

KC Smith with Gentry Real Estate represented the buyer in the sale of 2901 W. Clarendon. Kevin Higgins with NAI Horizon was the leasing agent for the long-term lease at Pointe Business Plaza.

TUCSON, Ariz.–  The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) held a grand opening yesterday to celebrate its new startup incubator at Biosphere 2, which supports renewable energy and sustainable tech startups.

UACI at Biosphere 2 was launched with four startups, all of which will go through UACI’s structured 27-point road map that takes them through a continuum of education provided by mentors, advisers and community collaborators. Entrepreneurs will use various physical spaces at Biosphere 2 that allow them to test and demonstrate the tech in specific environments.

At today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins was joined by government officials, business leaders, innovators, community members and other senior UArizona leaders.

Biosphere 2 serves as a laboratory for controlled scientific studies, an arena for scientific discovery and discussion, and a far-reaching provider of public education. Its ability to combine varying scales, precise manipulation and fine monitoring together in controlled experiments provides scientists with the unique opportunity to explore complex environmental questions.

UACI is Arizona’s leading startup incubator network with 72 companies in the program and locations across Southern Arizona. UACI offers leaders of science and technology startups the benefit of connections with UArizona experts, incubation programs and the office and lab space needed to turn ideas and inventions into scalable and sustainable businesses that ultimately provide high-paying jobs and fuel Southern Arizona’s economy. UACI and Biosphere 2 united to provide the ideal partnership to translate research into impact.

UACI at Biosphere 2 offers interconnected spaces intentionally designed and constructed to accommodate different types of users as well as bring together resources needed to advance technology. A proposed expansion includes developing a tech park that would allow corporations to collaborate directly with the research and innovation occurring at Biosphere 2.

As a Research 1 institution, the University of Arizona is a leader in research in renewable energy, sustainability, water resource management, space and defense, mining technology, biotech and optical sciences.

“The research expertise at the University of Arizona contributes to the worldwide effort to develop a more sustainable future. The inventions and innovation spurred from the university’s research drive a robust startup scene, and co-locating research and startup support services together will only build on this success. This future-focused environment, dedicated to moving innovations forward, provides the ideal platform for technology advancements and business growth,” Robbins said.

“Academic research and innovation may begin in a lab setting, but, through units like UACI, we ensure that our work reaches far beyond the university, enriching life for all,” said Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, UArizona’s senior vice president of research and innovation. “UACI has done an incredible job helping startups from the university and tech community realize their commercial market potential. Uniting these organizations will allow us to accelerate the translation of research to real-world impact.”

“It’s been nearly fifteen years since the University took over Biosphere 2. It has been a time of incredible growth and evolution from when the Biosphere 2 was simply known as home to the world-famous, closed-system experiment of the 1990s. I am so excited about the new University of Arizona Center for Innovation collaboration that will build on the solid research foundation the University has advanced at Biosphere 2. Together, we will advance companies who focus on improving impacts on the environment, food safety and security, fit-for-purpose water, water access, and energy security,” expressed Joaquin Ruiz, UArizona vice president for global environmental futures and director of Biosphere 2.

“As an internationally designated soft-landings incubator location, UACI can now provide unmatched testing and demonstration opportunities to businesses across the globe,” said Carol Stewart, UArizona associate vice president for Tech Parks Arizona. “The synergy between UACI and Biosphere 2 is vast and we intend to explore options to give startups a vantage point.”

The transit-oriented development will introduce apartments, student housing, office, and retail space offering a vibrant urban hub adjacent to Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Wednesday, Medistar Corporation, GMH Communities (“GMH”), and CBRE Investment Management (“CBRE IM”) were joined by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Vice Mayor Laura Pastor, Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari, and an audience of business and community representatives,to celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking of Central Station, a dynamic one-million-square-foot mixed-use development that will sit adjacent to Civic Space Park and Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus.

Designed to merge seamlessly with the existing transit station to create a bustling urban hub, Central Station will establish two residential towers, 30,000-square-feet of retail space focusing on food-oriented concepts; 70,000-square-feet of state-of-the-art flexible creative office space; and two levels of below-grade parking with 430 spaces.

“Downtown Phoenix is a rising hot spot, and Central Station sets a new standard for transit-oriented development elevating the vibrancy of our city,” said Mayor Gallego. “The care and thoughtful design set a tone for the City’s future. It’s projects like this that are among the reasons more people choose Phoenix as their new home than any other U.S. city.”

One tower, a 22-story student housing building will be fully furnished and comprised of 655 beds. Fostering a collaborative living environment, the development will be equipped with smart technology, amenities, and services designed to meet the unique needs of urban residents. This component of the Central Station development will also feature a diverse array of residential options ranging from micro studios to four-bedroom units, catering to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as young professionals.

The second,a 33-story residential tower,includes 362 units and features smart-tech throughout. All residents will have access to an outdoor amenity deck that includes barbeque grills, fire pits,and a resort-style pool.

“At GMH, we have been actively pursuing opportunities to expand our footprint and develop Class-A, smart-tech apartment communities across the country,” said Steve Behrle, Chief Development Officer of GMH. “With Central Station, our plan is to transform Downtown Phoenix, providing students the local workforce with the living accommodations necessary to support their unique live-work-play-learn-thrive lifestyles.”

“Downtown Phoenix is an entirely different place today than it was just five or six years ago. It is a vibrant urban hub,” said Phoenix Vice Mayor Pastor. “Every week, new restaurants are opening. New tenants are filling apartments downtown four times faster than anywhere else in the Valley. Central Station is a community that brings even more vibrancy to downtown with diverse housing choices and a variety of uses to meet the needs of those living and working in Downtown Phoenix.”

“With Downtown Phoenix booming, Central Station is the centerpiece we need and deserve,” Councilwoman Ansari said. “Mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, and aesthetically pleasing projects with a range of units that include workforce-priced housing are exactly what a city of our stature should be building and encouraging. I cannot wait to see this project completed and bring even more vibrancy to the center of our city.”

Central Station, which is slated to open in 2024, will reimagine the city’s primary downtown bus and light rail transit center that serves two million passengers annually. It will also link to the city’s Civic Space Park in a unified public space for the vibrant heart of Phoenix. Poised to capitalize on the development’s strategic location, Central Station keys off robust transit ridership and proximity to the urban core of the fifth-largest city in the United States.

Central Station is a public-private partnership with the city of Phoenix retaining ownership of the land and the development partners entering into a long-term lease for the project. The project was designed by Gould Evans, and Layton Construction will serve as general contractor.

“Central Station is ideally positioned to benefit from the expanding knowledge cluster formed by the Phoenix Bioscience Core and ASU’s downtown campus,” said Ben Green, Managing Director, Residential Transactions, CBRE Investment Management. “It fits well within our fund’s ‘Eds and Meds’ investment theme as a premier rental option catering to the substantial, growing demand generated by higher education and life science employment.”

“Central Station will be a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly addition to downtown Phoenix with its densely landscaped pathways,” said Monzer Hourani, CEO of Medistar. “Its connection to Civic Space Park will provide another amenity bringing people together to experience events, dining, music and green space.”

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Gould Evans, the project’s architect.