Panda Express has purchased a 34,106 square foot pad at Houghton Town Center for $615,000 ($18 PSF). It will be joining Walmart and Discount Tire there along with other multitenant shop space planned for next summer by a joint venture with Bourn Partners and Diamond Ventures. At full build-out Houghton Town Center at the southwest corner of Old Vail Road and Houghton in Southwest Tucson will total approximately 750,000 square-feet on 85 acres.
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[mepr-show rules="58038"]Panda Express celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with 23,000 associates and over 1,600 stores in 48 States and abroad.
"Our goal is to make life delicious," says Andrew Cherng, co-founder and CEO of Panda Express in a statement when introducing the “Make Life Delicious” slogan.
The U.S. restaurant industry in their equivalent to the Fortune 500 list published each year by QSR magazine ranks the 50 largest quick service and fast casual restaurant chains in terms of total annual U.S. domestic revenue. Panda Express has been the world leader in the Asian dining experiences category for several years.
In 2012, Panda served nearly 70 million pounds of its classic, white long-grain fried rice. That's enough to fill 158 Olympic-size swimming pools.
It all started forty years ago, when Andrew Cherng and his father, master chef Ming-Tsai Cherng, opened the first Panda Inn in Southern California, their vision was to serve upscale, authentic Chinese cuisine, offering the opportunity for guests to connect over a traditional meal.
In 1983, Andrew took the opportunity for inspired Chinese cuisine, and along with his wife, Peggy, opened the first Panda Express at the Glendale Galleria in Southern California.
As Panda Express hit significant growth milestones, including opening its 100th store in 1992, 500th in 2002, and 1,500th in 2012, the company reaffirmed its commitment to people development by implementing the “2020 Vision.”
Panda Restaurant Group’s 2020 Vision is for the company to be the world leader in people development, providing growth opportunities for Panda Restaurant Group’s more than 23,000 associates to continuously better their lives, both personally and professionally.
“We are honored to have found success by empowering our associates to learn, grow, and achieve their potential,” Andrew Cherng said earlier this year. “As Panda Restaurant Group continues its journey, we reaffirm our commitment to providing each of our associates with the opportunity to thrive, and each of our guests a satisfying meal and enjoyable experience.”
In 1999, Panda Cares was launched as a company-wide community involvement initiative that provides food, funding, and volunteer services to children's organizations, disaster relief, and other worthy causes. To date, Panda Cares has given millions of dollars of in-kind donations to numerous nonprofit organizations, schools, and hospitals.
Whether providing an adventurous taste for each guests’ palate, or hosting monthly learning sessions at corporate headquarters, each aspect of Panda Restaurant Group pays homage to the original vision of the very first Panda Inn which opened in 1973: to “Make Life Delicious.”
This will be the 17th location in Tucson for Panda Express.
Paul Schloss and Alan Tanner with Bourn Partners in Tucson represented the developer, Houghton Developers LLC while Pete Villaescusa and Jesse Peron with CBRE of Tucson represented the buyer.
Schloss and Tanner should be reached at (520) 323-1005. Villaescusa and Peron can be contacted at (520) 323-5100.[/mepr-show]
[ismember]Sale Date: 8/29/2013. All cash transaction [/ismember]