Central Tucson Continues to Have High Investment Activity

TUCSON, ARIZONA (December 22, 2022) The top sale this past week at Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR was of Vine Apartments, an 8-unit investment property located just south of the University of Arizona campus. C&W | PICOR Multifamily Specialists, Allan Mendelsberg, Principal, and Joey Martinez represented both parties in this transaction. The top lease was of an 8,000 square foot (SF) industrial property at 2055 E 17th St, located in Central Tucson, where our Industrial Specialist, Paul Hooker, SIOR, Principal, represented the landlord in this transaction.

C&W | PICOR recently sold Vine Apartments for $1,425,000, $96,667 per bed, and $215.71 per SF. The Multifamily team, Allan Mendelsberg, Principal, and Joey Martinez represented both parties in this transaction. Vine Tucson, LLC purchased this 8-unit apartment property from BRAD Land Investors, LLC / The Martin and Stacey Cohan Revocable Trust.

Built in 2002 at 315-317 North Vine Avenue, the Vine Apartments features a mix of 1BD, 2 BD/1BA, & 2BD/2BA units. It is ideally located for student housing, as it is within walking distance of the University of Arizona. It includes air-conditioned units, dishwashers, walk-in closets, an on-site laundry facility, and spacious floor plans.

The top lease this past week was an industrial property at 2055 E. 17th St., in Tucson, where Paul Hooker, SIOR, Principal, Industrial Specialist at Cushman & Wakefield PICOR, represented the landlord in this transaction. This property is in Central Tucson, near the University of Arizona, Downtown Tucson, and SR SR-210/Barraza-Aviation Parkway, Tucson’s only crosstown expressway. The building is 8,000 SF and sits on a site area of 15,925 SF. The recently remodeled office buildout features a fenced and paved yard area leased by Livestream Shopping, Inc.



Two Tucson Walgreen’s Sell for a combined $9.75 Million

TUCSON, ARIZONA (December 21, 2022) A new foreign limited liability company formed Nov 1, 2022, for commercial real estate investors; Project Capricorn Fund V, LLC has been investing in Walgreen’s stores around the country.

The group recently paid $5,152,000 ($331 PSF) for the Walgreen’s at 3910 East 22nd Street in Tucson and $4,600,200 ($310 PSF) for Walgreen’s at 550 N Silverbell Rd in Tucson. Both were sold by the Walgreens Corporation.

Both properties in Tucson were on larger than average sites; the 15,560-square-foot Walgreen’s on 22nd Street, built in 2000, sits on 1.85 acres and the other 14,820-square-foot store on Silverbell, built in 2012, sits on 3.5 acres.

With the stability of the retail pharmacy industry going strong, Walgreen’s remains a strong, valuable net lease investment with minimal risk. They usually go with choice corner real estate and prefer parcels of over one acre. This might range up to two acres, given Walgreen’s building dimensions are often around 14,500 square feet on average.

There were no brokers involved in the sales; Michael Reiter, attorney and member of Project Capricorn Fund V handled the transactions. Both closed on December 2, 2022.

In 2014, the partnership of Walgreen’s and Alliance Boots formed into Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. As a result, they are now the biggest retail pharmacy operation in America and Europe. Their alliance is likely to secure future expansion with aging populations, as they currently have over thirteen thousand store locations in eleven countries globally.

The idea to merge was mutually beneficial, seeing that they could provide their services to the public more effectively. This was by way of lowering costs through wholesaling pharmacological products and providing better health services on location. These types of interactions were intrinsically part of Walgreen’s company fabric, going back well over one hundred years.

Out of nearly 8200 Walgreen’s locations prior to the merger, approximately 85% of this total are leased, and expect in coming years to ‘trim the fat’ by way of closing lesser performing stores. In the same breath, they will take those lost numbers and construct new buildings in different locations.

Photo: Walgreen’s 3910 E 22nd St (left) Walgreen’s 550 N Silverbell Rd (right)



Silverbell Plaza Retail in Tucson, AZ Sells for $22 Million

Tucson, AZ (December 20, 2022) – SRS Real Estate Partners announced today it has completed the $22 million sale of Silverbell Plaza, a 97,540-square-foot retail center located at 2480-2500 N. Silverbell Road and 2106-2180 W. Grant Road in Tucson, AZ.

John Redfield, a Senior Vice President with SRS’ Investment Properties Group out of Newport Beach, CA, and SRS Senior Vice President Alan Houston who is out of the Phoenix office, represented the seller, a private investor from Arizona. The buyer, a Washington-based private investor who was in a 1031 exchange, was represented by Gary Gallelli Jr. and Adam Rainey of Gallelli Real Estate.

Situated on 8.45 acres, the property was 97% occupied at the close of escrow and anchored by Walgreens and Safeway. Additional tenants include Anytime Fitness, Leslie’s Poolmart, PNC Bank, Wingstop, H&R Block, and 14 other local, regional and national businesses.

“Silverbell Plaza is a high-quality, grocery-anchored center, and the seller has had a true pride of ownership for more than 20 years,” said Houston. “Our SRS team worked with our client to thoroughly understand the asset’s history, stability and positioning in the market and proactively marketed Silverbell Plaza to our extensive national investor database.”

Redfield added, “This was a prime example of a buyer and seller working together through escrow during an uncertain time in the market. Both parties kept their long-term goals in focus to help complete this transaction. This was a true team effort all around, and a good showcase of SRS leveraging its investment sales and leasing experts and working together to create a winning situation for both sides.”

Silverbell Plaza has more than 205,000 residents and 135,000 employees within a five-mile radius and new residential developments are in various stages of construction nearby. The center is also two miles from Pima Community College and four miles from downtown Tucson and the University of Arizona.