Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate Blog
If you are thinking about selling now is the time..
Our inventory levels are a record lows and prices are actually on the rise for the first time in years.
If you have any questions or would like to list your home for sale with Prudential feel free to give me a call.
Andrew Holm, ABR, CDPE, eCertified
Prudential Arizona Properties – Scottsdale
Chairmans Gold Circle Award Winner – Top 2% Nationwide
Office: 480-767-2738
Fax: 480-907-2990
Mobile: 480-206-4265
For More Information on the property, Contact Andrew Holm.  |
||
|
SHORT |
||
|
Property Amenities
|
For More Information, Contact: Andrew Holm REALTOR® Cell 480.206.4265 |
|
by Max Jarman – Mar. 8, 2011
06:21 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Center mixed-use development in downtown Phoenix has been sold to CommonWealth REIT of Newton,
Mass., for $136.5 million.
When it opened 21 years ago, the center was envisioned as a retail and entertainment magnet. When that concept
fizzled, much of the retail space was eventually converted to offices.
The sale of the property puts discussions about its future on the front burner again.
CommonWealth REIT controls a $6.4 billion national portfolio of office and industrial properties, including five
other projects in Arizona. It did not immediately respond to a request for information about its plans for the property.
The center includes over 1 million square feet of office and retail space. It was sold by General Growth
Properties Inc., which intends to focus on its regional malls.
General Growth, the nation’s second-largest mall owner behind Simon Property Group, emerged from Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in November and has been shedding non-core assets such as
the Arizona Center.
“Hopefully, CommonWealth REIT will bring new energy to the project,” said Dave Roderique, president and
CEO of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership.
The Arizona Center was developed by high-profile mall developer Rouse Co. in 1990 in an effort to jump-start
redevelopment in downtown Phoenix.
The city contributed the land, then worth about $8 million, and granted the developer $40 million in sales-tax
rebates.
General Growth acquired the Arizona Center in 2004 through its $12.6 billion acquisition of Rouse.
The company is primarily a regional mall developer and didn’t seem to know what do with a mixed-use project such as
the Arizona Center.
Roderique said the addition of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, Arizona State University’s downtown campus and
the new convention center have made the area more viable and a retail and entertainment destination.
The 16-plus-acre Arizona Center consists of roughly 800,000 square feet of offices in two high-rises; 160,000
square feet of retail space, including an AMC Theatres complex; and several parking garages.
Included in the deal were three development sites that were originally zones for two more office towers and a
hotel.
Bob Young, a CBRE agent who represented the seller in the transaction, said the development parcels give
the buyer the opportunity to substantially increase the size and value of the project at some point down the road.
“In addition to acquiring an iconic asset, Arizona Center provides the future upside potential with the
development of three pad sites,” he said.
Steve Brabant, Glenn Smigiel and Rick Abraham of CBRE’s Phoenix office also worked on the deal.
David Keating, a spokesman for General Growth Properties, said the company intended to retain ownership of the
Tucson and Park Place malls in Tucson and the Mall at Sierra Vista in Sierra Vista.
General Growth Properties also is a part owner, with Westcor parent Macerich Co., of Arrowhead Towne Center in
Glendale and Superstition Springs Center in Mesa.
by Max Jarman – Feb. 13, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
General Growth Properties, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, has put its high-profile Arizona Center development in downtown Phoenix on the block and could announce a buyer by March.
The company declined to discuss the possible sale but its Chapter 11 reorganization note said it intends to focus on its regional malls going forward and shed properties, such as the mixed-use Arizona Center, that don’t fit the criteria.
The company earlier transferred its 355,000-square-foot Park West Mall in Peoria to its planned community development arm, the Howard Hughes Corp., which was spun off to stockholders in November.
General Growth plans to retain the Mall at Sierra Vista in Sierra Vista and the Tucson and Park Place malls in Tucson, which are traditional regional malls.
The 18.5-acre Arizona Center consists of roughly 800,000 square feet of offices in two high-rises; 160,000 square feet of retail space, including an AMC Theatre complex, and a covered parking garage.
The Arizona Center is technically owned by the city of Phoenix, which leases it to General Growth for a nominal sum under a government property-lease excise tax, or GPLET, agreement. The deal allows the Arizona Center to pay substantially lower property taxes because it is technically a government-owned property. The project is zoned for an additional 1.1 million square feet of offices, a 600-room hotel and 400,000 square feet of retail shops.
General Growth Properties also is a part owner with Westcor parent Mecerich Co. in Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale and Superstition Springs Center in Mesa.
A buyer that has been mentioned for the 1.06 million-square-foot Arizona Center is the CommonWealth REIT of Newton, Mass. The real-estate investment trust has $6.7 billion worth of office and industrial properties in its portfolio, including six properties in Arizona, totaling about 925,000 square feet. They include Regents Centre in Tempe, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield building in Phoenix and the One South Church Avenue office building in Tucson.
The company also declined to discuss the possible Arizona Center acquisition.
The Arizona Center was developed by high-profile mall developer Rouse Co., whose projects include Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston and Harborplace in Baltimore.
When it opened in 1990, it was touted as a retail and entertainment magnet that would draw people to downtown Phoenix and jump-start redevelopment of the central Phoenix business district. The city of Phoenix contributed the land, then worth about $8 million, and granted the developer $40 million in sales-tax rebates.
But, the center never lived up to its grand potential. National retail stores such as Gap and Foot Locker eventually closed and were replaced with tourist-oriented shops and restaurants. In 2003 the mall’s food court closed and was converted into office space.
General Growth acquired the Arizona Center in 2004 through its $12.6 billion acquisition of Rouse. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 2009.
by Michael Clancy – Feb. 10, 2011 12:47 PM
The Arizona Republic
Gray Development Group is in default on land it bought in the Desert Ridge area in 2004.
Vanessa Hickman, deputy commissioner of the Arizona State Land Department, said a default notice was sent in December for the 32-acre parcel on the northeastern corner of 56th Street and Loop 101.
The default is the second for the Gray group and at least the sixth in the Desert Ridge area.
The Gray parcel sold in May 2004 for more than $1 million per acre, making it one of the most expensive parcels the State Land Department ever sold.
The department originally owned all land in the 5,700-acre, master-planned development. Since 1993, it has been rolling parcels out for auction and subsequent development.
But the recession has had a serious effect on land values – driving those who acquired land at the height of the market into default – and the department’s ability to sell parcels.
Under the rules of state land sales, developers are on a seven-year payment schedule. When payments are missed, default notices go out. The notices trigger a 60-day period that gives developers time to make good on their deals. If they fail, the land reverts to the Land Department.
Hickman said the state has not reclaimed the Gray parcel yet.
Gray was scheduled to go before the Phoenix Planning Commission on Wednesday to amend the Desert Ridge Specific Plan as it pertains to the parcel. But that effort was withdrawn earlier in the day.
Gray’s previous default was on a 41-acre parcel north of Desert Ridge Marketplace. The company last year won a lawsuit claiming the master developer of Desert Ridge, Northeast Phoenix Partners, hindered its efforts to develop the parcel.
by Megan Neighbor – Feb. 3, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
In a strategic move by its new ownership group to get a fresh financial start, the Arizona Biltmore, one of Phoenix’s oldest and most iconic resorts, has gone into bankruptcy.
The resort’s business will continue as usual during peak tourism season despite the filing, according to CNL-AB LLC, which is made up of investors from Paulson & Co. Inc. and Winthrop Realty Trust.
The announcement that CNL-AB was filing for Chapter 11 reorganization came only days after CNL-AB assumed ownership of the property at a Jan. 28 foreclosure auction.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate, the property’s lender from 2007 until last month, defaulted on a collateralized loan that CNL-AB had backed.
As a result, CNL-AB absorbed the Biltmore and seven other resorts included in an investment portfolio. It also assumed over $1.525 billion of debt, $1 billion of that from a securitized mortgage that matured Feb. 1, the day of the bankruptcy-protection filing.
Only five of the eight resorts in the portfolio are listed in the filing. One of the resorts acquired but not listed in the bankruptcy filing is the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in northeast Phoenix.
Its debt will become mature in May 2012, according to Armel Leslie of Walek & Associates, the corporation’s public-relations firm.
The Biltmore is one in a long string of hotels and resorts in the Valley that have switched hands in recent years. Property owners that sought financing during the economic boom in 2006 and 2007 are often saddled with debt payments that far exceed the property’s value and are forced into foreclosure or bankruptcy.
The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix, the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley and the Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa in Litchfield Park are a few of the large resorts that have experienced more recent ownership changes due to financial troubles.
The Biltmore is a testament to the resilience of the industry. In February 1990, then-ownership group Lepercq/DBL filed for bankruptcy protection after defaulting on a $125 million loan.
The resort remained open and operating during the proceedings, as it will in 2011, the new ownership group said.
“The cost of paying management obligations of roughly $21 million to the resort manager is far outweighed by the benefit of preserving and maintaining the value of the debtor’s assets,” said Derek Pitts, managing director of Houlihan Lokey Capital Inc., the debtor’s financial adviser and investment-banking firm, in court documents.
The Arizona Biltmore is managed by Hilton Worldwide under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts collection, its luxury brand. A spokeswoman for the hotel would not comment on the bankruptcy Wednesday.
Under the Biltmore’s former ownership, the resort underwent a $16 million renovation. One upgrade included Ocatilla, a “hotel within a hotel,” which opened in 2009.
The Biltmore has 740 rooms and suites, and 100,000 square feet of meeting space.
In December 2009, Valley businessman and sports executive Jerry Colangelo and his partners purchased the Wigwam and two of the Biltmore’s golf courses for $45 million. The courses were not among the eight resorts and 14 golf courses listed in the bankruptcy filings.
In addition to the Biltmore, resorts in the filing are La Quinta Resort and Club in California; Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa in Hawaii; Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami; and Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, Calif.
Those not included in the filing, but part of the Jan. 28 acquisition, are JW Marriott Desert Ridge, Ritz Carlton Grand Lakes and JW Marriott Grande Lakes, both in Orlando.
The case is in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, under MSR Resort Golf Course LLC.
Dec. 28, 2010 01:05 PM
Associated Press
The Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department has closed on the purchase of 270 acres of private property for the Sonoran Preserve in the northern part of the city.
A city news release says the latest parcel provides a crucial connection between two much larger areas of the Sonoran Preserve and brings the new preserves total size to a little less than 7,000 acres.
The new parcel is located just south of Dynamite Road and just east of 7th Street and connects the Cave Buttes Recreation Area to an adjacent large Sonoran Preserve parcel to the west.
The land cost $16,000 an acre for a total purchase price of $4.3 million, funded totally with proceeds from the Phoenix Parks and Preserve Initiative.
by Peter Corbett – Nov. 18, 2010 02:14 PM
The Arizona Republic
Greg Vogel sees Valley growth over the next 35 years leaping to roughly 8 million people from 4 million.
Metro Phoenix will double down if his forecast plays out.
It’s rather startling when you see it plotted on a large digital map at Vogel’s Scottsdale office of the Land Advisors Organization.
“Everything you see now needs to be duplicated” to meet that population growth, Vogel says of the Valley’s developed area of homes, businesses, schools, parks, airports and other infrastructure.
Vogel, Land Advisors’ chief executive officer, has a vested interest in that growth curve as a top land brokerage in Arizona. Homebuilders, investors and commercial land users turn to Land Advisors for a wealth of data on historical trends and market forecasts.
Land Advisors, founded in 1987, calculates that every 6.2 people living in metro Phoenix consume one acre of land. With the population expected to grow to 7.1 million by 2030 from 4.6 million this year, the developed area would increase to 1.1 million acres from 742,000.
The Northeast Valley has 1,800 available home lots so most of the initial development of production housing will be in the Chandler-Gilbert area of the Southeast Valley, the Northwest Valley and Goodyear, Estrella and Palm Valley in the Southwest Valley, Vogel said.
Growing out, then up
He predicts that growth will first be out, into more distant suburbs, and then up, with taller buildings.
Consumers still want to buy suburban single-family homes and builders face opposition any time they want to add height and density, Vogel said.
“You’ve got to fight (for height) and quite frankly it’s not worth it,” he said.
There is a place for higher-density workforce and student housing, Vogel said, but noted that only a few of the Valley’s mixed-use projects have succeeded: the Scottsdale Waterfront, Esplanade and Kierland Commons.
All the condo towers in Tempe and downtown Phoenix are “total financial disasters,” he said.
Housing to recover
Land Advisors is predicting a recovery of the new-home market by 2012.
Owners who lost their homes to foreclosure in 2008 will re-emerge next year from their credit problems and can get back into the housing market as buyers, Vogel said.
Greater affordability also is attracting hesitant buyers.
After years of overproduction of new houses, peaking at 61,000 in 2006, the Valley has seen three years of underproduction with just 8,000 homes last year and ever fewer this year, according to Land Advisors.
That is expected to increase over the next few years.
“We do believe we come out of this pretty strong,” Vogel said.
He will join other top real estate experts Dec. 1 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown for Land Advisors’ Second Annual Metro Phoenix Land and Housing Forecast.
by Edward Gately – Nov. 16, 2010 09:13 AM
The Arizona Republic
When the new City Council is seated in January, the future of Scottsdale’s skyline will be in its hands.
Council members Wayne Ecton and Marg Nelssen will depart, and newly elected Linda Milhaven and Dennis Robbins will begin their terms.
The council will face a growing number of rezoning proposals that call for greater building heights within the downtown area, spurred by the downtown infill-incentive district and plan. The district allows buildings of up to 150 feet north of the Arizona Canal and surrounding the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center.
Gray Development Group is seeking approval for a two-building, luxury apartment complex near Camelback and Scottsdale roads, with at least one building close to 150 feet tall. That would match the AmTrust Bank building at 69th Street and Camelback Road.
The Blue Sky proposal has since been scaled back to a maximum height of 133 feet. The council has yet to consider the plan because of legal protests filed by surrounding property owners.
Other projects calling for greater heights in the downtown area have been filed with the city.
One calls for increasing the maximum height from 36 to 90 feet at Scottsdale Road and Angus Drive. Another proposes raising the maximum height from 36 to 65 feet on Scottsdale Road just south of the Arizona Canal.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Scottsdale Waterfront wants the final phases to include a building nearly 150 feet in height. The Waterfront is located in its own infill-incentive district.
“It’s all up to the council,” said Dan Symer, senior city planner, referring to those requests prompted by the downtown infill-incentive district.
“They can ask for additional heights and densities, and intensities,” he said of developers. “The community wanted a case-by-case analysis done. And if at the end of the day the council doesn’t agree that it’s a good application, it will deny it. Or if they think it is a good application, they will approve it. It all comes down to the (applicant) convincing the council.”
Defining council’s vision
Councilman Ron McCullagh would like the council to determine its vision for the city before considering proposals that would alter the skyline.
“The things that are being proposed right now pursuant to the infill-incentive district really aren’t relative, they’re extreme in their scale relative to the things around them,” he said. “And when you have that kind of a difference between what is proposed and what was ever contemplated, then you have really a difference in vision, not just a difference in policy and not just an issue of design or height.”
Councilman Bob Littlefield not only is against greater heights in the downtown area, but would like the council to eliminate the infill-incentive district and plan.
“I’m opposed to greater heights and density . . . because it’s inconsistent with what voters said they want downtown Scottsdale to look like,” he said. “It’s not downtown Tempe or downtown Phoenix, and to allow (greater heights and density) will simply make it look like those other towns.”
Nelssen has made it clear that she is opposed to greater heights and density in the downtown area. She also thinks Blue Sky is too high and dense, and that the project is not scaled correctly for the size of the parcel and the area.
Ecton hasn’t taken an official stand on building heights.
“We have to take into consideration both sides of the issue,” he said.
Chamber: Downtown evolving
A 2008 voters attitude study commissioned by the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce showed 46 percent of respondents agreed that “to provide open space, parks and a people-friendly environment downtown, it is appropriate for the city to allow greater heights in return for a smaller building footprint so those amenities can be provided.” Thirty percent of respondents disagreed with the assertion.
According to chamber President and CEO Rick Kidder, there is “very strong” community support for greater building heights in the periphery surrounding downtown’s neighborhoods.
“We would be loathed to see height in the unique districts of downtown that make downtown so special,” he said. “But we also recognize that the periphery is emerging as an urban area . . . and is attracting young professionals and bringing in new talent. We need to provide housing options for that talent.”
Milhaven and Robbins would favor greater heights under the right circumstances and in the right locations.
“If you look at the downtown plan, it talks about having more people living downtown and I completely agree,” Milhaven said. “And all those areas they’re talking about are either on empty lots or on the edge. The historic part of downtown, I don’t see (where) there would be any changes there.”
Robbins said many people want to make sure Scottsdale maintains its character and doesn’t end up looking like Tempe or Phoenix.
“But I also think there are some places where height would work,” he said. “You certainly want to have increased activity and vibrancy throughout our downtown, and yet you don’t want to have a negative impact on those already here. So you have to be careful in how you allow certain things to happen.”
The Arizona Republic
A recent victory in a lawsuit could result in more than CityNorth changing hands.
When Gray Development Group prevailed in the lawsuit and won a jury verdict of $110.7 million, it became likely that Gray could take over the very party it defeated in court.
Although the case is far from complete, the result of the verdict could give Gray control of the remaining, undeveloped property at CityNorth, access to the $110.7 million economic development agreement that CityNorth has with the city and, finally, control of Northeast Phoenix Partners.
NPP was the losing party in the lawsuit. Besides being prime developer of CityNorth, NPP – controlled by the Klutznick Co. – has been the master developer of the entire 5,700-acre Desert Ridge master-planned community.
The master developer controls compliance with the Desert Ridge Specific Plan and oversees other governing documents for the northeast Phoenix community.
Bruce Gray, president of Gray Development, says one of the first things he would do is call for an update of the plan, which is 20 years old.
“Many of the original design assumptions proved to be incorrect, and many changes have been made by others over the years – most by NPP,” he said. “That’s the reason traffic is such a mess up there.”
At least 18 amendments have been grafted into the plan to enable development that otherwise could not take place.
Gray said discussions about updating the plan would include the Desert Ridge Community Association, the Arizona State Land Department and city planners. He expects no action at least until the economy recovers.
The Desert Ridge Community Association is the area’s homeowners association, with control over covenants, conditions and restrictions, or CC&Rs, that deal with specific issues in the community.
Claudia Garza, president of the homeowners’ group, did not respond to requests for comment. The community association was part of the lawsuit originally, but settled out of court.
In previous interviews, she has accused Gray of disregarding the Desert Ridge plan. She said in 2007 that if Gray gets its way, the entire Desert Ridge community would be hurt.
Jim Adams, director of the State Land Department’s Real Estate Division, declined to say whether the department would like a complete re-evaluation of the plan.
“Over the years, Desert Ridge has been very successful, and we anticipate it will be successful when the market recovers,” he said. “We have made a number of changes and amendments over the years, and we will continue to do that. All master plans evolve.”
Michelle Dodds, a city planner with responsibility for the plan, said it would make sense to revisit the plan – if only to reflect curr
