INDUSTRIAL – 924 N TWEEDY ROAD, ELOY, AZ (PINAL COUNTY)
ELRUS of Calgary, AB, Canada, a heavy-duty mining equipment manufacturer, leased a 71,708 sq. ft. single-tenant industrial building at 924 N Tweedy Road in Eloy, AZ from Sky Cast Properties, LLC of Concord, ON, Canada. The building includes an expansive production area with reinforced floors and cranes in place, along with offices, men’s and women’s locker areas, lab space and other mechanical and maintenance rooms. In addition, the property has a secure fenced area and additional land available for expansion.

This is ELRUS’ first manufacturing facility in theUnited Stateswhere it plans to fill approximately 100 positions primarily for highly skilled mechanics and welders.

Pat Feeney, Dan Calihan and Rusty Kennedy of CBRE in Phoenix represented the landlord in negotiating the five-year lease. Kevin Lange of Cushman & Wakefield in Phoenix represented the tenant.

“ELRUS not only found a building ideally suited for its unique manufacturing requirement, but its location – between Phoenix and Tucson – will allow the company to draw from a wider pool of applicants to quickly fill its employment needs,” said CBRE’s Feeney. “The area’s pro-business environment was also instrumental in ELRUS’s decision to locate in Eloy, and the company should be up and running by the third quarter of the year.”

INDUSTRIAL – 420 E COLUMBIA STREET, TUCSON
JV Metals of Tucson, a metal recycler, leased 14,278 sq. ft. at420 E Columbia St. in Tucson. Located at Fair Avenue and Columbia, the four building complex is on a 2 acre industrial lot. Brandon Rodgers and Pat Welchert of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant and landlord, Plastic and Metal Parts, Inc. of Tucson, in the transaction.

INDUSTRIAL – 230 EAST 27TH STREET, SOUTH TUCSON
2,784 sq. ft. of warehouse space at 230 E 27th Street was leased by Brandon Schilling. Ron Zimmerman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank in Tucson represented the landlord, Tin Cup Properties.

RETAIL – HISTORIC BATES MANSION – 283 N STONE AVE, TUCSON
Marketplace Holdings dba Artfire.com, leased the Historic Bates Mansion at 283 N Stone Ave. in Tucson. The Tucson based web marketplace ArtFire.com will be moving their software development and web marketing team to the former home of the exclusive Mountain Oyster Club to launch a new artisan focused maker space on the property, called “Maker House”.

Maker House will serve as a community hub and education space for artists, artisans and creative entrepreneurs. It will feature classes, events, music, theater and tech ‘hackathons’ in the 5,000 sq. ft. historic space and the 5,000 sq. ft. courtyard, hidden behind 9 foot high walls. Maker House will also feature a new artisan coffee bar, in-house experts and access to creative equipment ranging from 3D printers to vinyl cutters, paper embossers, and computer guided sewing machines that artists and makers may not have readily available in home studios.

Renovation of the space is already underway. Maker House is projected to soft launch over the summer with a Grand Opening in September. ArtFire.com will move into the new corporate offices at the mansion in May.

John A. Jacobs, CEO and Founder of ArtFire.com says, “We’re excited to join the many companies, large and small, who are investing in the future of downtown Tucson. Moving ArtFire.com into this wonderful historic space perfectly matches both the future of tech companies in Southern Arizona and our commitment to artisans and the creative entrepreneur.”

Scott Soelter of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank in Tucson represented the landlord, Prudent Preservation Partners.

RETAIL – 6211 E SPEEDWAY BLVD, TUCSON
Rebellion Tattoo leased the 7,298 sq. ft. building at6211 E Speedway Blvd. in Tucson from MaS Enterprise. Greg Furrier and Aaron LaPrise of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor Commercial Real Estate of Tucson represented the landlord. Fred Seger of Fred Seger & Associates of Tucson represented the tenant.

RETAIL – 1730 WEST AJO WAY, TUCSON
TnT Fashion is opening its third location at 1730 West Ajo Way in Park View Plaza, at Mission and Ajo Way, where it leased 4,800 sq. ft. from Park View Plaza, Inc. Rick Volk of Volk Company in Tucson handled the transaction.

OFFICE – 1640 E RIVER RD, STE 208, TUCSON
Movement Mortgage, a Virginia based company, leased 3,926 sq. ft. at Mesquite Corporate Center, 1640 E River Road, Suite 208, in Tucson. Movement Mortgage, formerly New American Mortgage, is a privately held mortgage bank established in 2008. It was named by Inc. Magazine as the fastest growing mortgage bank in the country for 2012.

Tom Nieman of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor Commercial Real Estate represented the landlord, George Caughman. Gary Best of Keller Williams Southern Arizona represented the tenant.

OFFICE – 4811 E GRANT RD, STE 261, TUCSON
Arizona Institute of Urology leased 2,983 sq. ft. office space at the Crossroads Festival, 4811 E Grant Rd, Ste 261, at the northeast corner of Swan and Grant Roads in Tucson. The landlord, Larsen Baker, was represented in-house by Andy Seleznov and Melissa Lal. James Robertson of Realty Executives Tucson Elite represented the tenant.

Did we miss something?  To submit sales and leases email REDailyNews@outlook.com

Two apartment properties on Geronimo Avenue sold within one day of each other recently; they were located within two blocks of each other, but sold for dramatically different prices. The two sales when viewed side-by-side demonstrate the buyers’ individual preferences, only time will tell which was the better investment.

The first property, at 3022 N Geronimo Avenue, is a 10-unit building, built in 2005, that sold for $530,000 ($53,000 per unit) with 7,791 sq. ft. on a 30,492 sq. ft. lot. The seller, DCS 33, LLC of San Diego (David Canterman, principal) sold the property fully leased, with new roof, new stucco, and with no deferred maintenance. The buyer, SJK Geronimo, LLC (Sandra J Knight, trustee) was looking for an investment property without deferred maintenance and a cap rate around 8%.

Canterman says he did not want to sell the property, but was attracted to the idea of paying off the loans on all his other Tucson properties from the sale, after buyer’s agent, Allen Mendelsberg approached him with an offer. Mendelsberg of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor Commercial Real Estate in Tucson handled the transaction for both buyer and seller.

Canterman, a private lender, says he’s looking for more investment opportunities in Tucson.

Referring to his property manager, Jacklyn Malott of Keller Williams in Tucson, Canterman had this to say, “Jackie taught me not to be a ‘slumlord’ and to keep my tenants happy by maintaining the property; when the landlord does his part, the tenants do theirs and are much more likely to get their rent checks in on time.”

Malott has been retained for management services of the property by the new owner.

The second property, only two blocks away, at 3245-3261 N Geronimo Avenue is a 12-unit apartment that sold for $176,000 ($14,666 per unit) in an REO sale. The lender, City National Bank, sold the property to Mark A. Wilson of Saratoga Springs, UT in an all- cash deal. It was fenced off and boarded up at time of sale. The 8,485 sq. ft. in three buildings sits on 1.06 acres and was returned to the lender in March, 2011, and remained vacant for those two years.

Jeff Sherman of Colliers International in Phoenix represented the lender and investor in the transaction. According to Sherman, the property was sold for rehab and estimated the cost to cure as approximately $7-$9,000 per unit. The buyer has relatives in Tucson that will handle the rehab for him.

This concludes the tale of these two multi-family properties, different investment strategies for different folks, both found within blocks of one another on the same street in Tucson, AZ and selling just one day apart.

Canterman can be reached for more information at (858) 720-0229. Malott is at (520) 977-0145. Mendelsberg should be contacted at (520) 546-2721 and Sherman at (602) 222-5109.

Robert Sites, the owner of New Hope Machine Shop exercised a purchase option on the building leased for three years at 1840 W Wetmore in Tucson. The purchase price was $304,000 for the 4,000 sq. ft. ($76 PSF) for the steel building constructed in 2001 on a 13,049 sq. ft fenced paved lot. The price was negotiated at time it leased.

The building has six grade level doors and was an automotive transmission shop prior to being leased for the machine shop. The building has 200 Amp power, 14 ft. clearance height and is swamp cooled. Located in the county, the property has MU zoning.

New Hope Machine is a private company established in 2003 and incorporated in Arizona. One of its primary customers is Raytheon.

Tony Reed of Long Realty Commercial handled the lease and purchase.

Stites can be contacted at (520) 825-7830. Reed can be reached at (520) 918-5189.