City of Tucson Buys “Bridge Housing” for Homeless with Pandemic Relief Funds

TUCSON, ARIZONA – The City of Tucson purchased Desert Cove Country Club, a Senior Living Facility at 1833-1835 W. Anklam Road in Tucson for $1.175 million ($90 PSF) using federal pandemic relief funds.

The 13.032-square-feet of mixed-use space in two buildings sits on 4.5-acres. Desert Cove Country Club was formerly a nunnery turned senior living facility, that will soon provide bridge housing for homeless people. The city will partner with Community Bridges to help oversee the program, “Bridge Housing” and is expected to be operational at this site by the end of the year.

The City of Tucson will receive more than $135 million in federal pandemic relief money through the American Rescue Plan. In addition to the money for Tucson, Pima County will receive over $200 million as part of the same program.

Tucson has chosen to set its focus on the need for affordable housing.

According to the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness, from 2019 to 2020 there was a 60% increase in unsheltered homeless people in Pima County, going from 218 to 363. There are thousands more homeless who receive some form of shelter from different private organizations.

The goal of the program is to help people move from homelessness to independence over a 90-day period, or until they can find permanent housing. Located on Tucson’s west side, the gated community is near St. Mary’s Hospital and was originally a home for the nuns who worked at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Allan Mendelsberg, Principal, and Conrad Martinez, Multifamily Specialists with Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR represented the seller, 25JAK Properties, LP (Patrick Stojak, manager) in the transaction.

The City was represented in-house by Thomas Crawl, Real Estate, Department of Transportation for the City of Tucson. For additional information, Mendelsberg should be reached at 520.546.2721 or Martinez at 520.546.2730.

To learn more, see RED Comp #8969.



Equity Land Group Closes on First Land Sale for $3.9 Million

Female-Founded Land Investment and Development Firm Executes First Land Closing in Buckeye, Originally Purchased in March 2020 for Just Over $1 Million

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Equity Land Group, a Phoenix-based land investment and development company, recently closed on its first sale on a property near Yuma Road and Miller Road in Buckeye for $3.9 million. The 19.8-acre property is located near the Miller Commerce Center.

The property was purchased by a land developer and investor who has experience in a multitude of different development sites, including multi-family, industrial, commercial, and more. There are no set plans for use of the property, but according to Anita Verma-Lallian, co-founder of Equity Land Group, with the way the market is going up, there is still room to sell or develop, and it will still be profitable.

Equity Land Group purchased the property in March 2020 for $1.05 million.

“It was kind of a risky move with the timing of COVID-19 and the surrounding uncertainty, but we were confident that once things settled, this would be a prime piece of property regardless of what happened,” says Verma-Lallian, co-founder of Equity Land Group. Verma-Lallian and her partner, Smita Patil Mehta, invested an additional $150,000 to help with initial development costs that helped increase the value of the land for sale.

There is a U-Haul Storage facility located near the property, as well as the new 850,000 square foot Five Below distribution center. Additionally, LGE recently broke ground on a large commerce center nearby. All of these commercial developments total about two million square feet of planned office space combined with the many new housing developments slated for the area will drive the need for new retail in the area.

Equity Land Group is in the process of executing a 1031 exchange from the sale of this property to another 10-acre plot of land in the same area.

“I am thrilled with the value that Equity Land Group has delivered to me and the other investors in this deal,” said Darshana Patel, an investor in this deal. “The returns they have delivered to us in such a short period of time are incredible, and on top of that, they are watching out for our best interest knowing that tax implications will be high for us since we didn’t own this land for very long. They recommended the 1031 exchange option and being relatively new to investing in land, it is an enormous benefit to have Anita and Smita on our side.”

For more information about Equity Land Group, please visit www.equitylandgroupaz.com or call 480-213-1895.



Rents in Tucson up 2% over past month

  • Rents in Tucson increased 2% month-over-month, compared to 2.5% nationally. Month-over-month growth in Tucson ranks #69 among the nation’s 100 largest cities.
  • Year-over-year rent growth in Tucson currently stands at 13.5%, compared to 5.2% at this time last year.
  • Median rents in Tucson currently stand at $899 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $1201 for a two-bedroom.

Tucson rents increase sharply over the past month

Tucson rents have increased 2.0% over the past month, and are up sharply by 13.5% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Tucson stand at $899 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,201 for a two-bedroom. The city’s rents have been increasing for 14 straight months – the last time rents declined was in May of last year. Tucson’s year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 21.0%, but exceeds the national average of 10.3%.

Rents rising across cities in Arizona

Throughout the past year, rent increases have been occurring not just in the city of Tucson, but across the entire state. Of the largest 10 cities that we have data for in Arizona, all of them have seen prices rise. The state as a whole logged rent growth of 21.0% over the past year. Here’s a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the state.

  • Looking throughout the state, Scottsdale is the most expensive of all Arizona’s major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $1,795; of the 10 largest Arizona cities that we have data for, all have seen rents rise year-over-year, with Peoria experiencing the fastest growth (+25.5%).
  • Surprise, Chandler, and Gilbert have all experienced year-over-year growth above the state average (25.5%, 25.0%, and 24.5%, respectively).

Tucson rents more affordable than many other large cities nationwide

As rents have increased sharply in Tucson, other large cities nationwide have seen rents grow more modestly, or in some cases, even decline. Tucson is still more affordable than most comparable cities across the country.

  • Tucson’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,201 is slightly below the national average of $1,219. Nationwide, rents have grown by 10.3% over the past year compared to the 13.5% rise in Tucson.
  • While Tucson’s rents rose sharply over the past year, many cities nationwide saw decreases, including San Francisco (-6.8%), Minneapolis (-3.3%), and DC (-1.8%).
  • Renters will find more reasonable prices in Tucson than most similar cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $2,708, which is more than twice the price in Tucson.

For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S.