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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 |
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| More industrial condo units going up near airport |
By Ed Egger |
INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS |
May 30, 2008
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 Another industrial condo is taking shape near Tucson International Airport.
The Valencia Business Center, 2111 E. Valencia Road, will have 52,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and warehouse space. Space
should be available for sale or lease by the end of the month.
The center is made up of four buildings of 13,000 square feet each. Each building has 10 units of 1,300 square feet each, according to
Stephen D. Cohen, principal of industrial properties for Picor Commercial Real Estate Services. The developer is Chris Kemmerly of
Kemmerly Companies.
Just last month, Premises, a company from the Denver area, announced it was taking reservations on for-sale condominium "personal
warehouse" spaces it plans to build this summer on 19 acres of land it had purchased on Corona Road, also near the airport.
The Valencia Business Center condos are being offered at $140 per square foot for units in the building fronting Valencia Road or $125
per square foot for units in the other three buildings behind it, Cohen said. He said the price is for space in shell condition with a
power panel.
Cohen said industrial condo space has been selling quickly in Tucson, where he sees plenty of potential for both office and industrial
condo space. Out of 15 million square feet of office space in Tucson, Cohen said about 3 million square feet has been condo space in
he past five years and 1 or 2 million of that has been purchased by physicians.
With 40 million square feet of industrial space in the region - 10 million occupied by big manufacturing companies - he said there
should be a potential for 4 million square feet in industrial condo space.
Cohen said it costs about the same to buy condo space as it does to rent it when using a 10 percent down payment, a 25-year loan at 7
percent interest, a savings of $111 per month in depreciation and tax write offs, and an equity increase in five years of $233 per
month.
Taking baby steps to housing recovery
The Tucson housing market, while still far behind levels of a year ago, continued to make monthly improvements, indicating the local
economy may be taking baby steps toward recovery.
April 2008 data from the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service’s Monthly Statistical Digest show pending contracts
were up 27.1 percent over April 2007. Active listings were down 15.2 percent and the number of new listings added were down 20.9
percent, compared to a year ago.
Active listings in April totaled 8,808, down from 10,387 in April 2007. It was also down from 9,022 in March. These are indications
the backlog of inventory is beginning to clear out.
"It would appear that Tucson is headed in the right direction," said Kimberly Clifton, this year’s MLS president.
Home prices are also dropping. The average home sales price in April was $253,729, down 8.9 percent from April 2007 when it was
$278,577.
The median sales price was down 13.3 percent from a year ago to $195,000, the second month this year the median price has been below
$200,000. The median price was also down 2.5 percent from March when it was $200,000.
Home sales volume totaled $246.9 million in April, down 32.7 percent from $367.2 million in April 2007, but up 5.9 percent from March
when it totaled $233.2 million.
3 home builders here make ‘top 3’ green list
Three homebuilders in the Tucson region have grabbed top honors for environmentally friendly "sustainable building design and
construction" from Calvert, a diversified investment management firm that touts "sustainable and responsible investing."
A Calvert study, while concluding that none of America’s 13 largest publicly traded homebuilders has "fully embraced the emerging
market of sustainable building design and construction," said KB Home, Pulte and D.R. Horton were the best on the list of 13.
Calvert, which manages over $6 billion in assets for institutional and individual investors, said KB Home, based in Los Angeles, is
"clearly leading the homebuilding industry in terms of environmental sustainability," while D.R. Horton, headquartered in Fort Worth,
Texas, and Pulte, based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., were tied for second.
"We’re clearly very honored to be found by Calvert to be at the head of the pack," said John Bremond, president of KB Home Tucson. "It
is recognition of some of the work we have been doing for the past few years."
Bremond said he believed the recognition stemmed from a number of things, including all the company’s Tucson-area homes being Energy
Star certified and that the plans of all homes have been evaluated for energy efficiency.
KB Home is also making more efficient use of lumber, eliminating waste in construction and tightening up insulation for minimal
leakage. He said the company is seeking approval to use 2x6 framing to increase R-value and reduce energy use.
Vestar investing in ‘green’ at Oro Valley Marketplace
Oro Valley Marketplace, set for grand opening in October at Oracle and Tangerine roads, will have much of its original plant life
intact. Vestar Development Co. said it will be replanting and salvaging at least 300 trees and 1,000 plants for use throughout the
project and region.
The 115-acre retail power center will be the first in Arizona to be integrated with a restored riparian habitat and will boast a trail
system feeding into the nearby Catalina Mountains.
"With the trails, public art, riparian restoration and ‘green’ enhancements, this project is among the state and nation’s most
amenity- and environmentally-driven retail destinations," said Vestar’s project manager David Malin.
Among the tenants in the 800,000- square-foot center are Alltell Wireless, Best Buy, Bikes Direct, Chase Bank, Cinemark Theaters, Cold
Stone Creamery, Cost Plus World Market, Danny’s Gourmet Market, Dick’s Sporting Goods, DSW, Famous Footwear, GameStop, GNC, Linens ‘N
Things, Olive Garden, Pacific Dental, PetCo, Sport Clips, Styles for Less,The Keg, Tilly’s, ULTA, Verizon Wireless and Wal-Mart
Supercenter.
Vestar also plans to construct an on-site police substation for the Town of Oro Valley.
McCaleb Construction moves
McCaleb Construction Inc. has moved to 6565 E. Grant Road. The 27-year-old company’s phone number is (520) 323-2100.
McCaleb this year won Southern Arizona Home Builders Association’s Remodelor of the Year award, the third time the company has been
honored with that award, and has expanded services to include home maintenance and repair services.
TRT Property Management expands
TRT Property Management Services, a 95-year-old Tucson property and asset management company, is expanding to Las Cruces, N.M.
"Our goal is to expand regionally into markets that can be easily supported from our home office in Tucson," said Jeff Kelly, TRT
president. Kelly said the company already has a client in Las Cruces with several properties, so it was "a logical expansion
destination."
Kelly said TRT will partner with the Las Cruces’ Century 21 The Edge office.
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