Phoenix-based LGE Design Build and Biltmore Holdings have partnered to develop the 63,120-sf condo project on the infill site at 2323 W. University Dr. The companies acquired the parcel, with a now-razed 26,000-sf building, for $2.5 million or nearly $12 per sf from University Park Group LLC of Phoenix.
A 7,000-sf office condo already has been pre-sold to an unidentified home improvement firm, according to Rick Robertson, a principal of Lee & Associates Arizona's Phoenix office who represented LGE and Biltmore Holdings in the acquisition. He and his partner, Chris McClurg, are marketing the University Park condos as well.
The project will consist of one two-story, 24,430-sf building, two single-story, 8,985-sf buildings and one single-story 20,720-sf building. The condos, ranging from $125 per sf to $150 per sf, will be completed in June 2005.
"We expect a lot of demand for the condos because it is such a prime infill location," Robertson tells GlobeSt.com. He points out that the site is only one mile away from Arizona State University and two miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. "We found a real gem of a site," he says.
"The site has been an eyesore for some time," Robertson says. "The building was dilapidated. ...It was a land play."
University Park Group bought the land in September for $1.9 million or $9 per sf, according to Bill Bayless, a first vice president with CB Richard Ellis Inc. who represented the investor group in the sale. "This is the last piece of industrial land in Tempe," he says. "It's a very valuable piece of land."
Bayless tells GlobeSt.com that the building and land parcel were previously occupied by Road Machinery, a local sales and service company for Komatsu. The company vacated the property in August and University Park Group, which owned a building next door, decided to acquire it for future industrial development. However, the firm decided to sell the parcel given the extreme amount of interest in the site, which is less than a quarter of a mile from Interstate 10. In addition to the Hohokam project, LGE and Biltmore Holdings currently have more than 50 buildings, mostly condos, under development in the Valley.
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