‘May the Road Rise Up To Meet You’ South Tucson
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This old Irish blessing, “may the road rise up to meet you”, takes on a whole new meaning in a deal struck by the City of South Tucson and local developer, Larsen Baker. Welcoming new jobs, the City Council did not waste any time unanimously agreeing to a rededication of a portion of Old Vail Road in order to make room for redevelopment of an office campus.
When Larsen Baker of Tucson looked into buying the Madera Business Park at 2750-2760 S 4th Avenue in South Tucson, they went to the City Manager’s office to discuss a problem they saw with regard to the property. That problem being the matter of Old Vail Road bifurcating the property.
“The distressed property sold back in 2007 when prices were high,[mepr-show rules=”58038″] for $2.8 million and had since fallen victim to the recession,” said George Larsen of Larsen Baker. “Our goal when we started was to figure out a way in which we could convert the property from its current industrial incubator use into a gated office campus.”
The 35,200 sq. ft. Madera Business Park had been almost vacant for quite some time, leaving an odd tenant mix of a crematorium and a Domino’s Pizza. The lender, Maple Madera, LLC, held by Trimont Real Estate Advisors of Ivine, CA, sold the property for $650,000 (under $19 PSF) in an REO sale to Larsen Baker.
The City of South Tucson covers a small area of about 1.2 square miles at the junction of Interstate 19 and Interstate 10 and about 1 mile south of downtown Tucson. It is bounded on three sides by two freeways and the Union Pacific railroad tracks, completely surrounded by the City of Tucson, Arizona.
Larsen knows it is a good location, within an empowerment zone and only blocks from downtown Tucson. “That’s exactly what call centres, NGO Health Services and GSA are wanting,” Larsen revealed. “This will be more than a redevelopment, it’s a ‘repurposing’ of the property, with a guard house entry at the front and a wrought iron surround for a new office campus.”
Enrique Serna of the City Manager office met with the developer and presented the project to City Council. He agreed that dedicating the section of Old Vail Road from 4th Ave to 5th Ave in exchange for the appraised value going for landscaping improvements on behalf of the City and the El Paso Greenway project represents the best thing to happen in South Tucson for quite some time.
The developer already has a tentative tenant wanting 18,000 sq. ft. and with the road dedication will be able to develop the project into a 40,000 sq. ft. office campus. With estimated development costs of $50 PSF, or approximately $2 million, there is room to allow for reasonable market rates. If all goes as planned, tenants could start moving in next year, bringing new jobs to South Tucson.
Keri Silvyn, Partner at Lazarus, Silvyn & Bangs, PC acted as legal counsel for the developer in negotiations with the City.
Brandon Rodgers of Cushman & Wakefield / Picor represented the seller and Andy Seleznov and Melissa Lal of Larsen Baker represented the investor in the transaction.
Silvyn should be contacted at (520) 207-4464. Rodgers is at (520) 546-2714. Seleznov and Lal can be reached at (520) 296-0200.[/mepr-show]
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[ismember]Sale date was 7/29/2013. The road was valued at $2.50 PSF. Land area prior to road addition was 2.7 acres. We did not research how much additional land are the road brought to the property. [/ismember]