Discount Tire Joins Walmart at Houghton Town Center

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Discount Tire of Scottsdale (Michael Zuieback, President), through affiliate Halle Properties, LLC, purchased lot 11, a 37,790 sq. ft. pad, at Houghton Town Center for[mepr-show rules=”58038″]$700,000 ($18.50 PSF).  Located at the southwest corner of Old Vail Road and Houghton Road in Southeast Tucson, Discount Tire will construct a 7,000 sq. ft. store near the 100,000 sq. ft. Super Walmart store under construction. Both retailers report pushing ahead for a Q1 2014 opening.

Walmart purchased its 11 acre lot at the Center in June 2012 from the developer.

Discount Tire Company, with more than 860 stores in 26 states, has grown to become the world’s largest independent tire and wheel retailer. The company was founded in 1960 when founder Bruce T. Halle rented a building in Ann Arbor, MI. Although the inventory consisted of only six tires (four of which were retreads) and the showroom was not quite the showroom we see today, faith, vision and hard work were then, and still remain, the foundation on which this company has grown and prospered.

As with any new start-up, Bruce Halle’s venture faced numerous challenges – perhaps one of the biggest being that he didn’t own an air compressor. Having only six tires and a portable air tank, Halle would race back and forth to a nearby gas station, filling the tires with air as he sold them. Out of necessity, he became a master at inventory turn. In addition to being the only salesman, Bruce Halle was the tire technician, accountant, store computer, sign painter and cleaning crew. Day by day, tire by tire, this one-man operation slowly grew into what is now one of the most recognized names in the industry.

Discount Tire employees well over 10,000 employees, with 1,900 in Arizona between its Scottsdale headquarter and currently 70 store locations through out the state, and 11 in Tucson. Each store employs on average about 12 people.

Alan Tanner of Bourn Partners in Tucson represented the seller. Houghton Town Center is a joint venture with Bourn Partners and Diamond Ventures. At full build-out, the project will be approximately 750,000 square-feet on 85 acres.

Borderland Construction Co. have been putting in infrastructure at the Center with concept plans from SBBL Architecture + Planning and Rick Engineering’s design work. Retailers may use Diamond’s design team or select their own architects.

For more information on Houghton Town Center, contact Tanner at (520) 318-6624 or Kelley at (520) 577-0200. Zuieback with Discount Tire can be reached at (480) 606-6000.[/mepr-show]