TUCSON, Arizona – Cal Am Properties, Inc of Encino, California (Steve Hester, CEO) purchased the Far Horizon East Mobile Home Park at 7570 E Speedway Blvd. with 415-space for $33 million ($79,518 per space) and the adjoining Far Horizons RV Resort at 555 N Pantano Road with 514-spaces for $21 million ($40,856 per space).

Cal-Am owns RV Resorts and manufactured home communities throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and Washington. This is Cal-Am’s first venture in Tucson.

Both communities are award winning 55+ communities in Tucson. Far Horizons RV Resort was award winner in the Mega Park category in 2015 by the Arizona Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds.

Thousands of snowbirds flock each year to Tucson for activities such as the Tucson Senior Olympic Festival offering events in 31 sports, including racquetball, tennis, bowling, basketball shoot, archery, golf, track and field, horseshoes, badminton, powerlifting, shooting, shuffleboard, volleyball, and pickleball. This year’s 33^rd Annual Senor Olympics Festival was held January 7 – February 4, 2017 in multiple locations.

“There are approximately 1,300 to 1,400 participants in the Tucson Senior Olympic Festival, and at least 50 to 60 percent of them are snowbirds,” said Mike Davis, program coordinator for the Tucson Senior Festival.

Events like these, the climate and beautiful desert and mountain scenery make Tucson a popular senior destination which also feeds attractive investments.

John Sheedy, Mobile Home Park and RV Park sales specialist with Park Brokerage had this to say, “As the cap rates for both family and especially 55+ mobile home parks with permanent residents have compressed pretty significantly over the last 2-3 years, more buyers are becoming attracted to the high yields and returns associated with RV parks especially those with a high ratio of park model occupancy.  There is a common misconception that the RV park business is significantly more management-intensive than a mobile home park which isn’t really true especially when you consider the Snowbird (deserts) or Sunbird (mountains) RV parks that are prevalent here in Arizona.  The overwhelming majority of the tenancy is older, more financially secure, and a good chunk of the rental income is generally received in one lump sum at the beginning of each season.   These types of RV parks definitely do not operate like the KOA’s and other freeway RV parks which have a high volume of nightly visitors.  And what used to be a primarily cash business has now become more online reservation and credit card based.  And like a mobile home park, RV park owners also have the low overhead of only maintaining common areas and these parks are generally only open part of the year which means you’re getting traditional MHP cap rates of 9-12% which are very difficult to find in today’s mobile home park market with just as little repairs and operational headaches.”

For more information, Sheedy can be contacted at 602.821.4666.

To learn more see RED Comp #4470 and #4598.

[mepr-show rules=”58038″] Far Horizons East at 7570 E Speedway Blvd. with 415-spaces closed March 8, 2017. Sale price $33 million. Building included a 7,378-square-foot clubhouse on 55 acres. Recorded document #2017-0670312.  APN: 133-40-001C. Seller: Far Horizon Trailer Village, LLC Charles H. Hays, Jr.

Far Horizons RV Resort sold 1/11/2017 at 555 N Pantano Road with 514-spaces for $21 million ($40,856 per space). Building included a 13,566-square-foot clubhouse on 25 acres. Recorded document #2017-70110508. APN: 133-40-003 & 002. Seller: Far Horizons East, LLC, Charles H. Hays Jr.[/mepr-show]

TUCSON, Arizona – HSL Properties (Omar Mireles, president) of Tucson acquired the 109-room Hampton Inn & Suites at 5950 N Oracle Road and the 76-guestroom TownPlace Suites by Marriott at 5900 N Oracle Road in Tucson for an aggregate price of $12.06 million ($65,189 per room) at auction.

The seller, Miami Florida- based, LNR Partners, was the loan servicer and acquired these and La Posada Lodge & Casitas at 405 W Rudasill Road in 2012. La Posada sold for $2.52 million ($35,000 per room) for the 72-rooms at the same auction.

Bill Murney with Hospitality Real Estate Counselors (HREC) of Phoenix represented the seller in the transactions.

“Located in the high-end Northwest Tucson submarket, all three properties are in excellent condition having completed $6 million of capital improvements in 2014 by the seller,” Murney said. “The Hotels’ highly visible location on North Oracle Road is in a high-barriers to entry area of Tucson, provides easy access to the demand generators in Northwest Tucson as well as great accessibility to the high end shopping and dining amenities of the area.”

The Tucson Mall, situated less than 2 miles from the Hotels, is the largest shopping center in Tucson, and offers over 1.3 million-square-feet of retail space. The Hotels also significantly benefit from demand generators such as the University of Arizona, the U of A Medical Center, Asarco, and Ventana Medical Systems, as well as their proximity to major attractions such as the Saguaro National Park, Santa Catalina Mountains and Downtown Tucson.

HSL preferred the branded hotels for HSL’s Portfolio, now with eight hotels and over 1,100 rooms. Other HSL hotels include The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain, Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Resort, The Doubletree Suites by Hilton, Best Western Plus Tucson Airport, and La Quinta Inn & Suites – Reid Park Hotel and Casa San Sebastian in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The buyer of La Posada Lodge & Casitas, Robert Albright, Jr. of Tucson, didn’t mind the hotel not being branded for his first hotel venture.

Murney reported that Tucson is a major beneficiary of market compression in Phoenix, which has assisted in Tucson’s recent strong upswing in its lodging market fundamentals. During the YTD 2016 period, each of Tucson’s defined submarkets have outperformed their 2015 YTD performance by more than 10%. Furthermore, the Tucson Northwest tract, where these Hotels are located, has seen RevPAR growth of over 6% during the previous 12-month period.

For more information, Murney should be reached at 602.732.4777.

To learn more, login and see RED Comps #4580, #4581 and #4596.

[mepr-show rules=”58038″] The Hampton Inn & Suites at 5950 N Oracle Rd, closed on 2/23/2017 at $7,560,000 with 109 rooms including 28 kitchenettes ($69,358 per room). RED Comp #4580.

The TownPlace Suites by Marriott at 405 W Rudasill Rd closed 3/6/2017 at $4,500,000 with 76-rooms ($59,211 per room). RED Comp #4596.

La Posada Lodge & Casitas as 5900 N Oracle Rd closed 2/22/2017 at $2.520,000 with 72-rooms ($35,000 per room). RED Comp #4581. [/mepr-show]

TUCSON, Arizona — The South Forty RV Park Ranch at 3600 West Orange Grove Road, Marana in the Northwest submarket, sold to South Forty RV Resort LLC of Casa Grande, Arizona (George McGavin, Jr.) for $6.5 million ($27,897 per unit).

The 55+ community with 233-spaces includes amenities such as heated swimming pool, hot tub, adult oriented activities, laundromat, recreation lounge, billiards room, card rooms, 30 or 50 amp electrical service to all sites, television room, wireless Internet, exercise room, planned activities, dump station, RV storage available, pets 50 pounds or less are welcome and easy on-off Interstate access.

This was the first investment in Tucson for this buyer who is an experience real estate investor in this market, owning several RV parks in the Casa Grande area.

McGavin paid cash for the property and then secured financing from Bank of America.

Growth in these 55+ parks is driven by retirees on fixed incomes, almost no savings and those who have savings but earning little interest. Over 10,000 folks a day are turning 65 for the next 18 years and despite the prosperity in this country, nearly 25% of households have incomes under $25,000 per year.

Oracle Junction Mobile Home Park at 35590 South Highway 77 in Oracle Junction sold to the Camille Mouchawar Trust for $2.68 million ($33,500 per unit). The 78 spaces plus two apartments is a 55+ community located in Oracle Junction in Pinal County.

The buyer sold in December, Cottonwood Manor and Esperanza Mobile Home Parks, two adjacent parks located at 6300 S Randall Blvd in the south submarket of Tucson, a total of 83 units, for $2.4 million ($28,916 per unit).

Tom Hoch of Park Properties & Investment in Tucson handled these transactions for the Mouchawar Trust and also represented the sellers Andrew and Mary Bowdin in the sale of Oracle Junction park.

“The property being located in Pinal County between the two Saddlebrooks, and near the new Fry’s under construction for delivery Q1 2018 at Oracle and Saddlebrooke Boulevard, made this property extra attractive to the buyers,” Hoch said.

For more information, Hoch should be reached at 520.400.0898.

To learn more, see RED Comp #4401 and #4455.