TUCSON, ARIZONA — Rockefeller Group sold the Rockefeller Group Distribution Center – Phase I industrial building / distribution center at 6855-6751 S. Lisa Frank Ave. in Tucson, AZ for $10.125 million ($89 PSF) to Harsch Investment Properties, a Portland-based real estate investment, development and management company.

Formerly known as Rockefeller Distribution Center, the building is 79% leased by two tenants and is less than half a mile east of Harsch Investment Properties’ fully leased 130,000-square- foot Tucson Airport Center.

“This state of the art LEED Silver Industrial Park marks our third acquisition in the Tucson Airport sub market and is a strategic move for us in the area,” said Harsch Investment Properties Senior Vice President and San Diego Regional Manager Bill Rodewald. “The fact that we can accommodate our growing tenant base in the projects currently available vacancy is a key advantage as is the potential to develop the two parcels of land for significant future expansions and build to suits.”

The 113,546-square-foot building sits on 21.5 acres in Pima County. It features 40 loading docks and four drive-in bays in addition to 7,000-square-feet of built-out office space. Both tenants at Tucson Airport Distribution Center are among the state’s fastest growing businesses. Safelite AutoGlass is the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacements services and their Tucson warehouse allows them to provide same-day or next-day service to local customers in Arizona and New Mexico. OnTrac is a parcel logistics company with operations throughout the Western United States, arranging overnight delivery at ground rates to more than 60 million consumers.

The development/construction team won the coveted AZRE RED (Real Estate Development) 2010 Award for the Best Industrial Project in Arizona.  The team included The Rockefeller Group of Manhattan, New York, represented by Arizona regional director Mark Singerman; Chestnut Construction, 2127 E. Speedway, represented by Vice President Robert Sisley; and Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate, 1100 N. Wilmot Road, represented by President Mike Hammond.

The industrial building/distribution center is the Rockefeller Group’s first development project in Tucson. The structure’s envelope, lighting, heating/cooling system, reflective roof material, dual-glazed glass, and use of skylights and photo cells to control lighting all optimize the building’s energy efficiency.  Altogether, the green features resulted in a 40 percent energy use reduction compared to normal design standards.

Rick Engineering, 3945 E. Fort Lowell Road, also worked on the award-winning project.

Rob Glaser, SIOR, CCIM, of Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate Services in Tucson and Mike Adey, Jeff Chiate, Jeffrey Cole, Edward Hernandez and Nico Napolitano of Cushman & Wakefield in Irvine represented both the buyer and the seller in the sale.

Rob Glaser and Stephen Cohen of Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate Services in Tucson will continue to handle the leasing.

To learn more, see RED Comp #5174.

TUCSON, Arizona — The Dinerstein Companies (TDC) purchased a 30,950-square-foot lot for the latest student housing project at the University of Arizona. The property commanded a sale price of $10.2 million ($329.56 PSF) with 26 bidders competing for the site.

Sterling University Housing is a wholly owned subsidiary of TDC, having completed student housing developments at thirty-nine different national universities.  Sterling University Housing has successfully developed sixty-four properties totaling over 36,000-beds in twenty-six states

This next Sterling University project will be located on the current Chase Bank overflow parking lot at the southeast corner of First St. and Tyndall Avenue in the Main Gate Overlay District. The Property will encourage multi-modal transportation by being within walking distance of the University, within 700 feet of two streetcar stops, and by meeting requirements for short- and long-term bike spaces at ground level.

The Project has approval of a 10-story design, with 295,000-square-feet, 149-units and 503-beds, two levels of underground parking for a total of 153 parking spaces and 102 spaces for bike parking. The roof design includes a swimming pool and spa as well as raised garden boxes. Plans also show 3,485-square-feet of retail on the ground floor.

This is buyer’s second student housing project in Tucson. It also constructed and later sold Sterling University Villas as 2550 W Ironwood Hill in Tucson.

Established in 1955, TDC is a family-owned and operated company with offices in Houston, TX and Solana Beach, CA. TDC currently has $1.41 billion in apartment assets under management.

The company is also a leading “green” developer in the country with $1.91 Billion in LEED Silver/Gold apartment product completed or under development.  Recent company awards include USGBC 2015 Green Builder of the Year as well as being named a winner of ‘101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For’.

The project is to be developed and managed by the Dinerstein Companies Team; Gensler of Austin, TX is Project Architect; Landscape architect, The Planning Center of Tucson; SCA Consulting Engineers of Sugar Land TX, Structural Engineering; Rick Engineering Company of Tucson, Civil Engineering; and Blum Consulting Engineers of Dallas, TX the Mechanical Engineers.

John Ash with CBRE Tucson and Jaclyn Fitts, Director of Student Housing at CBRE in Dallas represented the Seller, JPMorgan Chase Bank, in the transaction.

For more information, Ash should be reached at 520.323.5177 and Fitts can be reached at 214.979.6524.

To learn more, see RED Comp #4341.

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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]