PHOENIX, AZ – Four Lee & Associates brokers recently negotiated the $4,700,000 all-cash sale of a 75,786 SF industrial warehouse building at Freeport Center, 5520 W. Maricopa St., Phoenix. The price per SF was $62.02.

Lee & Associates Principals Allen Lowe and Steve Farrell negotiated on behalf of the seller, Maricopa-Phoenix (KBP), LLC. Principals Rick Robertson and Scott Smith represented the buyer, Exeter Property Group, Conshohocken, PA.

“We are very pleased to have put a transaction together on this property at well-below replacement cost,” said Robertson. “These types of fully-leased distribution buildings have been very popular with our investors lately.”

Built in 2002, the fully-leased warehouse features 30’ clear height, 12 exterior dock doors, heavy power and a 185’ truck court.

The property is conveniently located just south of I-10 and just east of the under construction Loop 202 (South Mountain Freeway) and is expected to be completed in 2019.

For more information, Robertson can be reached at 602.954.3748; Smith is at 602.954.3768; Farrell should be contacted at 602.954.3746; and Lowe is at 602.954.3747.

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average surged 297.84 points, or 1.5 percent, to 19,549.62. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 29.12 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,241.35. The Nasdaq composite added 60.76 points, or 1.1 percent, to 5,393.76.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost $1.16, or 2.3 percent, to $49.77 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, slid 93 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $53 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline lost 3 cents to $1.51 per gallon. Heating oil slipped 2 cents to $1.62 a gallon. Natural gas fell 3 cents to $3.60 per 1,000 cubic feet.

A broad rally drives Dow, S&P 500 indexes to record highs – The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes on Wednesday soared to their biggest gains since the presidential election and set all-time highs. Investors bought stocks that do well in times of faster economic growth, like technology and industrial companies, but they also snapped up stocks that pay large dividends. Stocks moved steadily higher throughout the day after a mixed open. Phone and real estate companies made the largest gains, but the rally moved into high gear in the afternoon, as airlines, railroads and trucking companies soared.

Real Estate, Phone Shares Join Trump Rally as Dow Sets Record “U.S. stocks advanced as the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record for the second day in a row. Telecom, real estate and financial shares climbed as 10-year Treasury yields held steady around 2.4 percent, utilities declined. The S&P 500 Index added 0.3 percent to 2,212.2 by 4 p.m. in New York as phone companies and real estate shares, which have trailed banks and energy stocks since the presidential election, rallied with banks that extended gains to 15 percent the past month. Nine of 11 sectors advanced as the benchmark gauge for American equity closed less than 0.1 percent below its all-time high reached last month. Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 Index jumped more than 1 percent and the Nasdaq 100 Index added 0.2 percent.” (Bloomberg)

Canless Air System to Continue Manufacturing in the USA, Credits Trump While Announcing Decision — Following a series of productive meetings in recent days Canless Air System of Phoenix, Arizona has released the following statement: “Due to the efforts of the incoming administration we believe our workers, the state of Arizona and our company benefit by keeping our manufacturing in the United States. “We are announcing today that Canless Air System will continue to manufacture our canned air replacement products in Arizona, in addition to retaining the manufacturing of key components in Wisconsin, preserving jobs for American workers. “Today’s announcement is possible because the incoming Trump administration has emphasized its commitment to support manufacturers and create a more competitive and vastly improved U.S. business climate. All people and businesses connected with Canless Air System are extremely happy with the decision.”

 Oro Valley launches Pop Up Arts exhibits — Art is popping up in vacant store fronts around Oro Valley! Thanks to a partnership with Oro Valley’s public and private schools, Arts and Culture Ambassador Sasha Case has been working with art teachers to showcase student work, turning vacant store front windows into public art exhibits. On Thursday, December 15 at 4 p.m., Pop Up Arts will be formally launched at the Oro Valley Marketplace (on the southwest corner of Oracle and Tangerine), where the works of 37 Immaculate Heart students will be unveiled. The exhibit will be in the storefront at 1880 E. Tangerine, near State Farm. Also at the event, Oro Valley Town Council will present a $250 gift card to Immaculate Heart art teacher Ms. Duffy for going above and beyond and participating in both the Pop Up Arts and Youth Art in Council Chambers program. “I have always felt that the arts are the soul of any community,” said Mayor Satish I. Hiremath. “The Town is excited to see our Arts and Culture Ambassadors and schools collaborating to enhance the arts and culture offerings in our community,” The Pop Up Arts exhibits will be rotated every six weeks. The next exhibit will feature the work of Wilson K-8 students. Art teachers who are interested in participating can contact Sasha Case at 520-912-3254 or casacaseaz@gmail.com.

Starbucks to boost number of shops, add more food to menu – Starbucks plans to open 12,000 new locations within five years to boost its number of coffee shops worldwide by almost 50 percent. The Seattle-based chain is also adding more food to its menu in 2017 and soon customers will be able to talk to the Starbucks app to order a latte or cookie instead of tapping their smartphones. Starbucks outlined its five-year growth plans to investors on Wednesday, about a week after it announced that Howard Schultz, who helped build the brand, would step down as CEO in April. (NEW YORK AP)

US employers post fewer jobs, though openings stay healthy – U.S. employers posted fewer jobs in October than the previous month, but job openings are still at a mostly healthy level that points to steady hiring ahead. Job openings slipped 1.8 percent to 5.5 million, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Hiring also fell to just under 5.1 million, while the number of people quitting declined to about 3 million. While solid, the data weakened from September, suggesting that hiring is unlikely to accelerate beyond its current moderate pace anytime soon. (WASHINGTON AP)

Restaurant traffic suffers first decline in five years as fear of recession takes hold “Traffic at U.S. fast-food restaurant fell 1% in the third quarter to mark the sector’s first traffic decline in five years, the industry tracker NPD Group said Tuesday. Total restaurant visits were also down 1%, hurt by the now familiar list of factors that have weighed this year, ranging from the higher costs of eating out, changing consumer behavior and higher bills for items such as rent and prescriptions. ‘The term growing your business in a 1% world has become a popular mantra for the restaurant industry after six consecutive years of annual traffic gains of just 1%,’ said NPD analyst Bonnie Riggs. ‘However, over the past six months, restaurant industry traffic growth has come to a standstill and quick-service restaurants, which have been the traffic growth drivers, are now experiencing a slowdown in visits.’ Eating out has become more expensive even as the cost of at-home dining has fallen, according to recent government data.” (MarketWatch)

Consumers boost borrowing $16 billion in October – Consumers increased their borrowing in October at the slowest pace in four months as growth in credit card debt and the category that covers auto loans and student loans slowed. Total borrowing rose $16 billion, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. The October increase was the smallest since June. Revolving credit, which covers credit cards, increased $2.3 billion in October. The non-revolving category, which covers auto loans and student loans, rose $13.7 billion in October. Economists watch borrowing trends to gauge how consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, will fare. (WASHINGTON AP)

Caesars unit’s bank lenders threaten to end bankruptcy deal “The bank lenders of Caesars Entertainment Corp’s operating unit said they might walk away from a plan to bring the casino unit out of its $18 billion bankruptcy, potentially sending a high-stakes reorganization plan into disarray. The committee of bank lenders, which includes Blackstone Group LP’s GSO Capital Partners, has yet to resolve a dispute over the terms of their recovery, their lawyer Kristopher Hansen said at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago on Tuesday. Hansen said the lenders would inform the court on the status of a deal by Dec. 14, a month before a scheduled confirmation trial in Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc’s long-running bankruptcy case. Without a deal, Hansen said the committee would terminate a restructuring support agreement, forcing the confirmation trial to be postponed from Jan. 17.” (Business Insider)

Bruce and Charles Ratner resign from board as Forest City gives up dual stock structure “Following pressure from an activist investor, Forest City Realty Trust today announced it would eliminate a dual-share structure that gave the Ratner family unchallenged voting control over the company. Simultaneously, Bruce and Charles Ratner announced they will resign from the real estate investment trust’s board at the end of the year. Bruce Ratner will continue to serve as executive chairman of Forest City Ratner, the trust’s New York division. ‘After carefully reviewing the Company’s options to further enhance value for shareholders, we determined that now is the right time to collapse the dual-class structure,’ company chairman Charles Ratner and the firm’s special committee chair Scott Cowen said in a joint statement. ‘Today’s announcement will strengthen the Company’s corporate governance profile by aligning voting rights with the economic interests of all our shareholders.’ Activist investor Scopia Capital Management had called for the change in August, arguing that the dual structure ‘clearly harms the company.’” (The Real Deal)

New Stop & Shop format to debut at New York Center “Heidenberg Properties has received planning board approval to build a new 54,000-sq.-ft. Stop & Shop prototype at its Lake Plaza Shopping Center in Mahopac, New York. The store will replace a Key Food supermarket and increase total square footage at the center to 165,000 sq. ft. ‘This was a complicated process involving multiple municipal agencies,’ said Heidenberg VP of Operations Jason Lazar.  ‘We are excited to deliver the new prototype for Stop & Shop.’ Stop & Shop operates 419 stores in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.” (Chain Store Age)

Economy Watch: Hotel Metrics Stabilize in 3Q “The U.S. hotel sector has done particularly well in recent years, but there’s some evidence that the industry is beginning to skate along a plateau. According to JLL’s third-quarter lodging outlook report, hotel RevPAR was up 3.2 percent year-to-date compared with the same period a year ago, which is certainly better than no growth. But a year ago, the RevPAR growth rate was a brisker 6.7 percent year-to-date compared with the same period in 2014. JLL also noted that occupancy growth has stalled as room demand has experienced downward pressure from more cautious corporate transient demand and a slight uptick in group cancellations in the short term, coupled with increasing supply. ‘Despite these headwinds, the national occupancy rate continues to hover at a historic high, and ADR gains are driving the entirety of RevPAR growth,’ the report said. Year-to-date ADR growth at the end of the third quarter was 3.2 percent.” (Commercial Property Executive)

Spanish billionaire closes on $517 million deal for Miami’s Southeast Financial Center “Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega opened his wallet to the tune of $516.6 million to buy the Southeast Financial Center, downtown Miami’s iconic office tower. Word of the deal leaked out last week. Now it’s official: A deed recorded on Tuesday shows Ponte Gadea Biscayne, Ortega’s U.S. investment arm, purchased the 55-story tower. Commercial real estate in Miami has seen big investments so far this year but none the size of Ortega’s. Last year, Ortega, who owns fashion chain Zara, spent $370 million to buy a block on Lincoln Road. He is known to invest in trophy properties around the world. But Ortega may be coming in at the top of the market. Rents on Lincoln Road stayed flat over the last year and could drop over the next year, according to a report from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.” (Miami Herald)

Block 37 mall put up for sale: report “About five years after buying the Block 37 shopping mall, a Los Angeles investment firm has decided to sell the Loop property, which could fetch as much as $200 million, according to a report. CIM Group has hired the brokerage Eastdil Secured to seek buyers for the retail space and parking in the project at the southwest corner of State and Randolph Streets, according to Real Estate Alert, a trade publication. Block 37 was the first Chicago deal for CIM, which has gone on to buy office buildings and develop apartment towers here, and take on a major redevelopment of the historic Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue. Eastdil and CIM representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Real Estate Alert did not identify the source of the information in its story. When CIM paid $84 million for Block 37 in April 2012, the four-story, 290,000-square-foot mall was badly in need of a turnaround. The seller, Bank of America, had seized the property through foreclosure in 2011, and its retail space was just 30 percent occupied.” (Crain’s Chicago Business)

Jimmy John’s agrees to end non-compete deals in Illinois – Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain has agreed to stop requiring low-level employees to sign agreements preventing them from seeking jobs with competitors. Madigan said Wednesday the Champaign-based chain also agreed to inform employees that previously signed agreements will not be enforced, tell franchise owners to rescind existing agreements and pay $100,000 to be used for public awareness of legal standards for non-compete agreements. Madigan sued Jimmy John’s in June. Jimmy John’s said it is pleased to resolve the lawsuit. (CHICAGO AP)

PHOENIX, ARIZONA — The sale of Arizona self-storage investment properties continues to hit all-time highs. Gateway Mini-Storage LLC, located at 5750 S. Power Rd., in Gilbert, Ariz., recently closed for $14 million.

NAI Horizon Senior Vice President Denise Nunez exclusively marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Circle G Property Development of Gilbert, Ariz. Nunez also secured the buyer, a national self-storage real estate investment trust. The price is the third-highest recorded for a single Arizona self-storage property.

“These Class A facilities are rare finds,” Nunez said. “Well situated in one of the fastest growing communities in the United States, Gateway Storage, which operated as an Uncle Bob’s Self Storage, was acquired by one of the largest publicly traded REITs in the country.”

At the time of sale, the Class A Institutional quality facility comprised 92,855 net rentable square feet with 669 self-storage units. A Phase III expansion is under construction to add approximately 21,575 additional net rentable square feet. The addition is estimated to be completed in 1Q 2017.

“The timing was right for the partners to maximize value given the low cap rate and record high valuation market environment,” Circle G CFO John Hartman said.