Sellers John and Gael Pardi of Oakland, CA are using the proceeds from 2000 E. Southern Ave. in Tempe to satisfy requirements of a 1031 exchange. The Pardis' broker Eric Wichterman of the Phoenix office of Grubb & Ellis Co. gets the credit for the deal, pulling together a group of investors to buy the Pardis' Tempe asset. He tells GlobeSt.com that he formed the group with owners from an abutting similarly sized medical office building. The 2000 Plaza LLC, with ties to Mesa, ended up the buyer of record for the fully leased, four-tenant holding. The building is flanked by other medical office product. Wichterman and Stan Shafer, also of Grubb & Ellis, represented the building owners while the buyers spoke for themselves.

Wichterman says the trading volume is somewhat slow these days. The metro Phoenix market is attracting value-add buyers, mainly looking for buildings with vacancy issues, and stable buyers seeking well-occupied, market-value product. Wichterman says the vast majority of buildings trading right now are stable, well-occupied buildings.

One problem in the metro market is that sellers just aren't giving out large discounts despite the economy. Low-occupancy properties are riding out the storm, with owners waiting for a leasing surge before heading to the open market. That, says Wichterman, could take up to a year or even as long as 18 months before the properties are marketed. He agrees with others that sellers seem more unrealistic than buyers right now.