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 17^th 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]

Locally owned Capitol Storage of Tucson dba Tanque Verde Self Storage Units at 6750 E Tanque Verde Rd and Bear Canyon Self Storage Units at 9000 E Tanque Verde Rd sold its two locations on the Eastside of Tucson, Arizona for $5.8 million. Capital Storage has provided storage, truck rentals, boxes and packing and shipping supplies to customers in Tucson since 1986.

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[mepr-show rules=”58038″] The new owner, Optivest Properties, specializes in mini-storage warehouses and is an affiliate of Optivest, Inc. based in Dana Point, CA. This past July, Optivest Properties joined Northwest Self Storage of Oregon and SecurCare Self Storage of Lone Tree, Colorado to form National Storage Affiliates (NSA), the first affiliate-owned and operated self-storage REIT (real estate investment trust).

NSA now has more than $800 million in committed asset value and is owned by its affiliate operators, who will contribute the ownership of their self-storage assets to NSA over the next few years, as current mortgage debt matures. The formation of NSA, a Maryland real estate investment trust, will make it the largest privately-owned company in the self-storage sector, with approximately 220 facilities, 100,000 storage units and 12.5 million rentable square feet of space located in 15 states.

“This REIT structure gives a viable and very flexible exit strategy for our existing clients when it is time to sell their properties,” said Warren Allan, president of Optivest Properties. “The ability to partner with our other core affiliates will not only enhance our operating platform but provide the opportunity for operators to leverage our knowledge & expertise of the industry and operations as a whole.”

Financing for NSA was provided by Wells Fargo, US Bank and a Prudential real estate investors debt fund, and is part of an expandable program to add future properties to the NSA REIT. Clifford Chance is legal counsel and Knightsbridge Realty Capital is providing strategic advisory series for NSA. Optivest Properties will continue to manage all of its NSA properties and is seeking more acquisitions to contribute to the REIT. The size of the NSA will enable Optivest Properties to considerably lower their cost of debt service, vendor and marketing relationships with economies of scale.
Optivest Properties specializes in self-storage property management, acquisition, image branding, asset financing and project consulting. They currently manage 54 locations nationwide with more than 27,000 units and over 4.5 million square feet of mini storage, RV and commercial storefront/warehouse storage space located in California., Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, and New Hampshire.

For more information, visit www.optivestproperties.com[/mepr-show]

[ismember] Sale date was 8/29/2013. Sale price of 6750 E Tanque Verde was $3.8 million, sale price on 9000 E Tanque Verde was $2 million. Seller paid $25,000 down on each. Bear Canyon Self Storage consists of 55 fully A/C cooled storage units and Tanque Verde Storage has 968 self storage units: 15% 4×9, 13% 3×4, 13% 5×12, and 11% 5×9; the balance consists of 10 various sizes ranging from 4×4 to 11×12.

The Optivest companies are comprised of Optivest Properties, Optivest Inc. wealth management, Optivest Investment Banking and Optivest Foundation. Optivest began in 1987 as a Wealth Management firm and boutique multi-family office for high net-worth families. Optivest Properties launched in 2007, specializing in operating mini-storage facilities across the US, and Optivest Investment Banking launched in January 2013. The greater purpose of these companies is to fund the Optivest Foundation. All three divisions of Optivest contribute 10% of their gross sales to support Christian ministries and non-profit organizations across the globe through the Optivest Foundation. [/ismember]

Cotlow Development of Tucson (Dean Cotlow, President) purchased a 15,269 sq. ft. infill lot at 3832 E Kleindale Road in Tucson for $96,000 ($6.29PSF) from The Heritage No-Kill Cat Shelter. Cotlow plans construction of a 5,200 sq. ft. office building on the site that is still in the planning stages.

The seller of the property, the Hermitage Cat Shelter, is the first “no-kill” organization in Arizona dedicated to the protection and care of homeless cats. The Kleindale property was a donation to the not-for-profit 501(c)3 group as it comes into its 48th Anniversary this Saturday, September 7th.

The “no-kill” shelter is well known in the community for its public education on responsible animal guardianship and providing lifelong care to those cats who for whatever reason are unable to be re-homed.

Hermitage is both an adoption facility and long-term sanctuary for those felines who are “adoption-challenged” including felines who are FIV or FeLV-positive, and other types of chronic health issues. All of the kitties roam free within 8,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor living space at the shelter, with room for special needs.

Ninja, our 3-legged adorable and sweet girl in the photo, came to Hermitage sick from a snake bite. Despite best efforts, to save her life one of her legs had to be amputated; but, that doesn’t stop her or even slow her down from chasing toys or a laser light around.

Adoption specials this Saturday, in honor of their 48th Anniversary, will be only $4.80 for adult cats and $14.80 for kittens. Hermitage generally has 115-200 cats at any given time to choose from and many more charges off-premises in foster homes.

Included in this adoption price, every cat is spayed/neutered with all shots before going to a new home.

The Hermitage Cat Shelter is a world-class organization and is supported solely by donations. Don’t miss the party Saturday, Sept. 7th at 5278 E 21st Street, from noon – 7:00 p.m. Stop by anytime you can, there will be a barbeque, with cake and ice cream, and a vendor fair to welcome you.

Buyer was self-represented in the transaction and Peter Douglas of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor represented the seller.

For additional information, Cotlow can be reached at (520) 881-8180. Douglas should be contacted at (520) 546-2711. For more information on Hermitage Cat Shelter contact (520) 571-7839 or visit them at https://www.hermitagecatshelter.org/

Login for additional information. [ismember] Sale Date: 7/15/2013. All cash transaction. APN: 111-04-002C [/ismember]