Tucson, AZ – Avilla Preserve Orange Grove at 2501 West Orange Grove Road, Tucson sold for $27.6 million ($150,000 per unit). The 184-units feature 1, 2 and 3-bedroom luxury rental homes in this gated community with a large, heated pool and jacuzzi.

Built in 2013, all the beautiful homes have spacious floor plans with 10 foot ceilings and come with stainless steel appliances, full sized washer & dryer, granite counters, private backyards and more.

The seller, Alta Vista Communities is a joint venture of Karber Holdings (Roger Karber) and Brav Holding Company (Garry Brav) an affiliate of BFL Construction, the contractor for the communities.

Karber and partners in Aerie Development recently closed on the purchase of the tallest building downtown Tucson building, the 22-story One South Church Street. See full story here: Tucson-based Aerie Development Acquires One South Church for $32 Million.  With this second transaction, the company has completed nearly $60 million in real estate transactions in Tucson this week.

The buyer is a Santa Barbara, California company, M3 Multifamily, LLC. Formed in 2008 by John Mosby and Jon Martin for the purpose of acquiring, renovating and managing existing apartment communities in the United States in order to create cash flow and profits from sale for their investors.

Since then M3 has grown steadily, and currently owns/manages communities in Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, Reno, and Tucson totaling 1,394 units. This is the second property M3 Multifamily has purchased in Tucson from the same seller. It also bought Aerie at Tanque Verde, an 85-unit detached luxury rental community, located at 2495 N Desert Links Drive in Northeast Tucson in 2013.

Art Wadlund with Berkadia Real Estate Investors in Tucson represented the seller in both transactions.

For additional information Wadlund can be reached at 520.299.7200.

To learn more see RED Comp #3329.

Vintage Partners, a leading Arizona real estate development and investment company, sold 6 acres at Marana Center to a Tucson-based hotel developer for approximately $3.5 million.

The buyer, Dupont Station Partners II, LLC (Michael Rabstoff, manager) plans to use half of the 6 acres for development of a hotel and the other half for restaurant and other retail use. Rubstoff has been dong hotel development mostly in Washington State  for Marriott Hotels and others prior to this.

“We’re excited about the Marana project,” Rabstoff told us. The whole center, with Tucson Premium Outlets now open, we believe will become a significant destination shopping spot, and a hotel fits well into the Town’s plan there.

“We may be ready to announce more specifics on the hotel brand in as little as 90-days,” Rabstoff said.

Marana Center, a 170 acre mixed-use commercial center located in Marana, is on the south side of Twin Peaks Road between I-10 and Linda Vista Boulevard anchored by the new 366,000-square-foot, open-air outlet mall, Tucson Premium Outlet Center that opened on October 1^st is owned by Simon Property Group.

Vintage Partners has been working closely with the Town of Marana to respond to market demand while creating a development that reflects the lifestyle choices of the Town it represents. The Town approved Vintage’s development plan for Marana Center in July 2014, that is zoned for a wide variety of commercial uses, including retail, restaurants, hotels, auto dealerships, office and medical.

David Scholl of Vintage Partners said, “Marana Center is poised to become Southern Arizona’s favorite regional shopping destination. As the only super regional shopping destination in the Metro-Tucson area with easy Interstate 10 access, Marana Center will be a convenient drive from most Tucson neighborhoods and will offer shopping and entertainment to fit anyone’s needs.”

There were no brokers involved in the sale. To learn more see RED Comp #3311.

Tallest building tower in Tucson may soon be getting a new Sister Tower

Local real estate developer, Aerie Development (Roger Karber and Zach Fenton managers) recently closed on the purchase of One South Church, a 22-story tower in downtown Tucson for $32 million ($132 PSF). The 241,715-square-foot tower is commonly referred to as 23-stories, but with no 13th floor, it really is only 22-stories we were told by the new owners.

For the past month, rumors have been swirling in the real estate community about this sale. There is extra excitement about the building being purchased by local Tucson owners as this is the first time since construction in 1986 that that has happened.

“It is a phenomenal building, but it’s almost 30 years old and needs some love,” Fenton said. “We’re excited to be improving the building.” The buyers plan to do some capital improvements to the cooling tower of the building, just due to age, it is due.

However, there was a bonus included in the sale and that was the underground infrastructure for a second tower with a 500 space underground parking garage, and plans for a second sister tower designed with the original building. One South Church and the future tower were both designed by Curtis W Fentress of Fentress Architects. The plan was to build the second tower at a later time and that time appears to be coming closer than ever.

“We want to start planning for the second tower as soon as possible,” Karber told us. “The existing building at One South Church is 330 feet tall, we would like to make the new tower just slightly taller, maybe 350 feet, just to redefine ‘the tallest building’ downtown as one more recently constructed.”

Buzz Isaacson, First Vice President with CBRE in Tucson has leased and brokered the property since 2000 having sold it twice before. Isaacson along with Barry Gabel, Executive Vice President with CBRE in Phoenix, and Kevin Shannon with CBRE’s Capital Markets in El Segundo, CA office represented the seller, Equity Common Wealth (NYSE: EQC) a REIT based in Chicago with a national portfolio of 74 properties comprising 26.6-million-square-feet.

Roger Karber as principal also brokered the transaction through Karber Realty Advisors and Zach Fenton through his brokerage firm, ZFI Holdings, both of Tucson.

For more information Isaacson may be contacted 520.323.5151, Gabel is at 602.735.5273, and Shannon is at 310.363.4910. Karber can be reached at 520.977.5456 and Fenton is at 520.797.6700.

To learn more see also RED Comp #3319.