PHOENIX, AZ – ViaWest Group has recently completed almost 28,500-square-feet of new leases at the Biltmore Financial Center, a 635,000-square-foot, three-building, Class A property at the northwest corner of 24^th Street and Camelback in Phoenix, with a 30-year history of fostering careers and businesses.

WealthPoint, Philadelphia Insurance, Mandel Young Law, Versant Capital Management and Fresenius Medical Care have signed leases within the last number of weeks. ViaWest Group also plans to move its office to the Biltmore Financial Center this summer. The new completed leases are the beginning signs of strong demand at the Biltmore Financial Center.

“The tenants, and our significant pipeline of prospective tenants, have been drawn to the Biltmore Financial Center especially considering our renovation, which advances the legacy and enhances the property’s premium, modern-work environment,” said Steven Schwarz, a Founding Partner of ViaWest Group. “Our hands-on management approach and vision of the property as the Valley’s premier address for business helped attract each of these tenants.”

ViaWest Group has grown dramatically in recent years, hiring 24 employees in 2015. Now with 33 total employees, ViaWest Group will expand its main office to 5,400 square feet near the soon-to-be-developed Biltmore Financial Center’s 3,500-square-foot tenant lounge, which will include a 20+ seat conference room, made-to-order food service, big screen media wall, indoor/outdoor co-working space and games.

ViaWest Group is currently conducting a multi-million dollar renovation of the Biltmore Financial Center after purchasing the complex last summer.

Expected to be complete in July, the renovation also includes:

• Creating new speculative suites – Approximately 8 suites ranging in size from 1,600 square feet to 11,000 totaling 35,000 square feet. The suites will have modern entries with built-in reception desks, comfortable break rooms with best-of-class appliances and materials, LED direct/indirect lighting, significant interior glass, and much more
• Overhauling the one-acre plaza with a new fountain, providing significant shade from new landscaping and structure and offering an assortment of outdoor seating and meeting spots
• Upgrading the café with beer and wine, enhanced architecture, an inviting patio and immediate delivery to complex
• Renovating the 4,400-square-foot gym with new equipment, fully-renovated locker rooms, refurbished workout space, and a new yoga/fitness room
• Updating key elements of the lobby space, corridors, bathrooms, and elevator lobbies
• Significantly enhanced signage and building entries throughout the complex yielding a sense of place combined with increased synergy between all the buildings and amenities

WealthPoint expanded a previous lease and moved into a 5,000-square-foot office in the 11-story Biltmore Financial Center II (aka Northern Trust Tower, 2398 E. Camelback Road) in late January. The new office maintains WealthPoint’s expansive view of 24^th Street and Camelback Road.

In April, Philadelphia Insurance will move into its new 4,606-square-foot office, also in the Biltmore Financial Center II, with a balcony and Camelback Corridor view.

Mandel Young Law will move from another location on Camelback Road to its new 2,843-square-foot office with a corner view and a balcony in the 4-story Biltmore Financial Center I in May.

Nearly doubling its existing lease at Biltmore Financial Center, Versant Capital Management will move into 6,400-square-feet in the 6-story Biltmore Financial Center III (2394 E. Camelback Road) in May.

Fresenius Medical Care will move into a 4,301-square-foot office with excellent views and a prime entry off the elevator lobby in the Biltmore Financial Center II in May.

PHOENIX, AZ – Overton Moore Properties (OMP), Gardena, CA, sold one of its Valley industrial holdings at 301 N. 45th Ave., Phoenix for $5.7 million or $74.07 per SF.

Stein Koss and Tom Louer, Principals with Lee & Associates, sold the 76,950 SF distribution building to OMP just 18-months ago. The Koss | Louer team was then engaged by W & L Investments to find a home for their produce business.

W & L Investments is a Phoenix-based, family-run produce supplier in the Valley. Overton Moore Properties is a full-service commercial real estate firm focusing on properties in California, Arizona and Nevada. They are the second largest developer in Los Angeles.

Built in 1998 by Buzz Oates, the 76,950 SF freestanding distribution building features 28’ clear height, heavy power, 18 dock doors and 9 grade level doors.

The building has proximity to the I-10 Freeway and the approved Loop 202 extension which will connect with the I-10 in the future.

For more information: STEIN KOSS, SIOR, 602.912.3520, TOM LOUER, SIOR, 602.954.3779.

Company will provide 464 extended-range precision projectiles

TUCSON, AZ — The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $31.8 million contract to produce and deliver 464 Excalibur Ib extended-range precision projectiles.

In full-rate production since mid-2014, Excalibur Ib has revolutionized cannon artillery, making it possible to engage targets precisely at long ranges. Excalibur is the longest-range, most precise, cannon-fired projectile in the world.

“There is growing demand in the international market for Excalibur’s accurate, first-round effects capability,” said Duane Gooden, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president. Raytheon has also funded an internal development program aimed at bringing Excalibur’s unprecedented capabilities to the maritime domain.”

To meet the U.S. Navy’s need, Raytheon is developing Excalibur N5, a 5-inch/127 mm variant that uses Excalibur Ib guidance and navigation unit and an overall re-use of 70 percent of Excalibur Ib parts and components. Additionally, the N5 uses 99 percent of the Ib system’s software.

In 2015, the company test-fired Excalibur N5 at the Yuma Proving Grounds, scoring direct hits on targets more than 20 nautical miles away. The successful test demonstrated the maturity and low-risk nature of leveraging the Army’s program to quickly field a much-needed, affordable U.S. Navy capability.

About Excalibur
Excalibur is a precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round effects capability in any environment. Excalibur’s level of precision creates a major reduction in the time, cost and logistical burden associated with using other artillery munitions.

• Combat-proven: Nearly 800 Excalibur rounds have been fired in combat with exceptional accuracy and lethality
• Precise: Excalibur consistently strikes less than two meters from a precisely-located target
• Responsive: Excalibur dramatically reduces mission response time
• Safe: Excalibur’s precision practically eliminates collateral damage and has been employed within 75 meters of supported troops
• Affordable: With its first round effects, Excalibur reduces total mission cost and time and the user’s logistics burden
• Evolving: Raytheon is adding a laser spot tracker to compensate for target location error, maintain precision in GPS denied or degraded environments, and enable engagement of relocated or moving targets
• Entering new markets: With Excalibur N5, navies will be able to deliver extended-range, precision naval surface fires