Sun Belt Management Company, a Phoenix-based development company, purchased the Casa Paloma, a 130,000-sf specialty retail center at the southwest corner of Ray Road and 56th Street in Chandler. The center is anchored by an AJ's Fine Foods, The Gap, Ann Taylor and Talbot's.

The center was built just over a year ago by a partnership, DeRito Partners and Kimco. Phoenix-based DeRito Partners is one of the most active retail developers in the Valley, although much of the company's work has been in north Scottsdale.

Chandler, a suburb to the southeast of Phoenix, is the fastest growing city in the Valley and one of the fastest growing in the nation. In 1980 the population of Chandler was 30,000, but today it stands at more than 170,000. Once desolate farmland, the area is becoming scattered with rooftops. Chandler leaders have carefully controlled the growth that has come into the city, limiting density in residential and demanding some housing with one-home to an acre densities.

The Phoenix office of Grubb & Ellis, with brokers Greg Valladao and Liz Paquette, negotiated the transaction for the buyer, while Mike Pearlstein of DeRito Partners represented the seller.