The Phoenix office of JLL has completed five new leases for Café Rio, expanding the fast casual Southwestern-style restaurant into multiple new locations across the metro Phoenix market. The new restaurants have opening dates ranging from October 2016 to summer 2017.

JLL Senior Vice President Tyson Switzenberg represented Café Rio in the lease negotiations, which include:

• 4095 S. Gilbert Rd. (at Ocotillo Rd.) – 2,670-square-feet, opened Oct. 20.
• 4747 E. Cactus Rd. (at Tatum Blvd.) – 2,501-square-feet, opened Nov. 10.
• 5150 S. Rural Rd. (at Baseline Rd.) – 2,785-square-feet, scheduled to open this month.
• 7439 W. Bell Rd. (at 75^thAve.) – 2,000-square-feet, scheduled to open Summer 2017
• 2748 S. Signal Butte Rd. (at Guadalupe Rd.) – 2,880-square-feet, scheduled to open Summer 2017

“Phoenix ranks among the nation’s hottest markets for quick serve restaurants,” said Switzenberg. “Café Rio has been rapidly expanding in Phoenix due to the success of their existing stores in the marketplace – all of these are end-cap spaces within strong regional or neighborhood trade areas, and include strong traffic patterns, a strong surrounding retailer base and great visibility. These properties have helped Café Rio realize its 2016 Phoenix-area expansion plans, which it expects to continue in 2017 and beyond.”

According to JLL, metro Phoenix boasts 93 quick serve restaurants per 100,000 residents, placing it fourth on the company’s list of “Top 10 Best Large Markets for Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) Expansion,” with a density of QSR uses that ranks just behind Nashville, Houston and Washington D.C.

Based in Salt Lake City, Café Rio is a fast-casual Mexican restaurant with made-from-scratch recipes inspired by the traditional cooking and high quality ingredients found in the Rio Grande Region of Northern Mexico, Southern Texas and New Mexico. The company operates more than 100 U.S. locations across 10 states, including 13 locations in metro Phoenix.

Long-term commitment moves company to Class A space at Phoenix Plaza

PHOENIX, Arizona – The Phoenix office of JLL has completed a 21,390-square-foot, long-term lease that relocates the corporate headquarters of Orcutt | Winslow (www.owp.com) into a new building on the Central Corridor, continuing the architecture, planning and interior design firm’s decades-long presence in metro Phoenix’s Central Business District.

The new lease moves Orcutt | Winslow from Phoenix Corporate Center, at 3003 N. Central Ave., into Phoenix Plaza, located at 2929 N. Central Ave. Phoenix Plaza sits on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Thomas Road, in Phoenix’s Midtown submarket – midway between downtown Phoenix and the Camelback Corridor.

JLL Managing Director Andrew Medley represented Orcutt | Winslow in the lease negotiations. Jerry Roberts and Patrick Boyle of CBRE represented the property owner, Phoenix Plaza PT, LLC.

“Orcutt | Winslow’s new space is not only flexible – allowing the company to maximize its efficiencies over the long-term – but also filled with Class A building amenities,” said Medley. “The Phoenix Plaza complex includes a gym, deli, hotel, shared conference room and light rail access. These were important factors for Orcutt | Winslow as they considered their move, and the always-important factors that help a company attract and retain today’s top employee talent.”

“Andrew Medley and his team at JLL did a great job of helping us find the perfect space. With this relocation, Orcutt | Winslow will be ideally situated to continue to provide our clients the service they expect and deserve,” said Erik Clinite, one of the Managing Partners at Orcutt | Winslow.

“We are especially excited about designing and constructing our new space to support the way we work today, and one that will be extremely flexible. Like other leading-edge companies that depend on technology, gone are the days of large dedicated workstations and hardcopies of drawings. They have been replaced by smaller open workstations that accommodate laptops and larger computer monitors, and collaboration spaces that promote communication and creativity,” said Carl Nelson, another Managing Partner at Orcutt | Winslow.

Phoenix Plaza totals 1.7 million square feet of Class A commercial space including twin 20-story office towers, a 25-story office tower, a 226-room Hilton Hotel Suites and a three-level retail pavilion offering a health club, specialty shops and dining. The property is surrounded by amenities such as Park Central Mall, Phoenix Country Club, the Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, resort hotels and fine dining. Other notable tenants in the building include Banner Health, Osborne Maledon, IBM and Deloitte.

Orcutt Winslow will relocate to its new space in July.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Orcutt | Winslow specializes in the design of people-oriented architecture, planning and interior design services, with a client roster that includes Mayo Clinic, Pendergast Elementary School District, Dignity Health, Buckeye Union High School, Maricopa Integrated Health Systems, Madison Elementary School District, Queen Creek Unified School District, Banner Health, Litchfield Elementary School District, Kyrene School District, Veterans Affairs, Creighton School District and a host of other public and private education clients.

PHOENIX, Arizona – Hines, the international real estate firm, announced it has renewed a long-term 11,976-square-foot lease for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) at Renaissance Square in Phoenix.

GPEC, which has been in Renaissance Square since its inception, will continue occupying its space on the 25^th floor. The organization renewed an 8-year lease and is updating the office into a more modern and collaborative space.

Hines acquired Renaissance Square in 2008. The two-building office complex in downtown Phoenix is bounded by Adams, Central and Washington streets and 1^st Avenue, and has 968,790 combined square feet.

“Hines is thrilled to retain GPEC, a long-standing tenant that makes a significant impact in the community,” said Steve Hamel, Hines’ general property manager of Renaissance Square.