CBRE’s Tucson office has released its fourth quarter 2013 Big Box Retail report. The analysis surveyed vacant retail box spaces in excess of 10,000-square-feet located in shopping centers or freestanding buildings in the Tucson area and submarkets.

Nancy McClure, first vice president and retail specialist with CBRE’s Tucson office, compiled Tucson’s Big Box Retail report and notes that Tucson’s Big Box Retail space has been experiencing positive absorption, with the highest demand focused in the core regional mall hubs.

According to Tucson report highlights:

In 2013, the Tucson retail market saw healthy activity and real estate professionals did a good job filling vacant space. There are only six remaining vacant big box retail spaces of 30,000 square feet and greater in the metro area.

The Park Place Mall area is almost 100 percent leased. This part of the metro area continues to be one of the most active and with a lack of available space, experts anticipate that new development and redevelopment for the retail corridor, as the few available spaces/properties will need renovations to be attractive to major retailers.

McClure is confident that the retail market will continue this trend of slow but steady growth, and believes that retailers in this post-recession world have emerged stronger and more focused than ever. She says the overall consensus within the retail real estate industry was that the recession was good for the overall state of retail – weeding out weak performers and forcing retailers to focus on core merchandise, listening to their customers more closely and learning to adapt to the new world of e-commerce.

Looking to the future, McClure sees one of strongest retail trends as that of omni-channel retailing. This merging of the internet and e-commerce with bricks and mortar space is how savvy retailers have begun to address their customers’ desire for the convenience of shopping online balanced with their needs for real space to interact with products. While some consider this approach to be a major paradigm shift within retail, others can’t help but see the immediate benefit: omni-channel consumers want to use all channels available to them (online, mobile, bricks and mortar, etc.) simultaneously and retailers using an omni-channel approach will be able to track and analyze customer behavior across all channels, not just one or two.

How will this affect the Tucson metro area, not to mention the overall Arizona and the Southwest retail markets, going forward?  McClure says, “With many Big Box retailers still trying to right-size in this post-recession market, we’re going to see many of them adapt the trend of omni-channel retailing across all markets, not just major and coastal cities. As the Big Box companies continue to fine-tune their real estate strategies in relation to their overall business goals, multichannel retailing and a laser sharp customer and merchandizing focus are going to become imperative to strategy. This means that although we may not see growth in leaps and bounds and a glut of new retailers to our market, what we will see is strategic locations by smarter, better retailers who are here for the long haul.”

If you would like more information and retail trends in the Tucson area and across southern Arizona, Nancy McClure and Michael Laatsch at CBRE can be reached at (520) 323-5100.

Long Realty is pleased to recognize CEO Rosey Koberlein as a member of the First Swanepoel Power 200 Most Powerful People in Real Estate. The Swanepoel Power 200 (SP200) list is comprised of the most powerful and influential CEOs, Thought Leaders and Senior Executives in the residential real estate brokerage industry. The SP200 also ranks the “Power Players” into nine different categories: franchise executives, real estate brokers, educators, economists, technologists, media executives and association executives.

Koberlein oversees strategic planning and leadership for all of Long Companies, including Brokerage, Mortgage, Title and Insurance, and 1,400 licensed real estate associates.

Residential real estate is an enormous industry with some $55 billion being earned just in real estate commissions every year. We therefore focused on those individuals/companies who generate most of their business or income, in one form or another, from the residential real estate industry.

The rankings of the SP200 are “based on multiple criteria that take into account the individual’s personal influence, his/her tenure in the industry, the office he or she holds, the decision-making power of said office, the financial resources of the company or organization, the company or organization’s significance and contribution to the industry, the company’s geographic reach, and his or her recent activities, growth, and potential,” according to Rob Hahn, co-editor of the Swanepoel Power 200.

There was some heated debate on whether the list should include company individuals in finance and government. Obviously, major mortgage banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo have incalculable impact on residential real estate, and they do generate significant revenue from the financing of residential properties. They, however, also have significant other revenue.  A similar situation arises with powerful regulators and legislators. Our solution was to acknowledge these types of powerful individuals under the “Outsiders” category without including them in the overall SP200 ranking.

“We acknowledge the huge contribution to our industry by the SP200 Power Players and thank them for their role in improving the home buying transaction,” Swanepoel said.

For a full list of rankings, visit SP200.

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Perhaps the highest priced Walgreens sale in Arizona, aka store #298 for builder / seller, Evergreen-First & Grant, LLC, an affiliate of Evergreen Devco, Inc. of Phoenix; the Walgreens at 730 E Grant Road in Tucson sold for[mepr-show rules=”58038″]$9.055 million ($689 PSF). This 13,140-square-foot store (built 2013) with a drive-thru is located at the southeast corner of First and Grant on 1.16 acres.

“The property is a trophy asset due to its location, design and access,” Ken Gatt of Evergreen Commercial Realty told us.  “It is also one of the first stores in Arizona with the new ‘Wellness Experience’ Prototype, which is an improved prototype focused on the Pharmacy experience and building sustainability internally and externally.”

Property sold as an absolute Triple-Net (NNN) Corporate Lease where the landlord has zero responsibilities and the Lease is guaranteed by Walgreen. DPBI Tucson, LLC, a family owned group from Rhode Island purchased the property at a higher than average cap rate, due to the higher price.

The Walgreens was a relocation of a former store at Grant and Campbell, one of the highest Arizona volume stores, originally opened in 1960, which had no drive-thru; the new core in-fill location at a major arterial intersection has traffic counts exceeding 68,000 cars per day; located at a major retail intersection with Fry’s Grocery, McDonald’s, O’Reilly Auto and others.

Ken Gatt with Evergreen Commercial Realty in Phoenix represented the seller and Chris Kostanecki with Capital Pacific of San Francisco, CA represented the investor.

Gatt should be reached at (602) 808-8600 and Kostanecki is at (415) 274-2701.

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[mepr-show rules=”58038″]Sale date: 12/13/13. Transaction was a double escrow. In first transaction Evergreen purchased property from Walgreen Arizona Drug Company of Deerfield, IL for $6,338,590. The subsequent transaction was the upleg for DPBI Tucson in a 1031 exchange. Property sold with an NOI of $507,087 or a 5.6% cap rate. Walgreen cap rates are selling at 5.3%-5.4% cap rates, the higher cap was given due to higher price for property. Market time was Sept.- Dec. and escrow was a 30 days look and 30 day close. Seller also told us the Walgreens at 7115 E Tanque Verde, Tucson is being sold for 5.5% cap rate. APN: 123-13-091 & 123-13-129[/mepr-show]