Irvine, CA – (Jan 13, 2021) - Faris Lee Investments in partnership with XTEAM Velocity Retail Group, arranges the $12.5M sale of Augusta Ranch Marketplace, a Bashas' grocery anchored center in the city of Mesa, AZ, nearby the Eastmark master planned community.
Don MacLellan, Rick Chichester, Phil Ramming at Faris Lee Investments and Dave Cheatham, Darren Pitts, Eli Castronova at Velocity Retail Group represented the seller in the transaction.
The center features a strong and highly synergistic tenant line up comprised of popular local operators and large national brands. The center’s mix of grocery, food, daily needs, restaurant, QSR, medical, and professional service tenants made it highly resistant to recessionary and e-commerce pressures as well as maintaining strong occupancy even during the pandemic.
The sale represented one of the few grocery-anchored transactions in the metropolitan Phoenix market during 2020 and was the only Bashas’ anchored center sold during that time. The pandemic has impacted investment sales for multi-tenant retail properties, but the strength of this location and the grocery sales boost from the pandemic were fundamental for the buyer to pursue for their 1031 requirement.
“The key to our marketing strategy was to focus on the strength of one of the largest master-planned communities in the US with significant residential and employment growth for years to come as well as the recent sales growth from the grocery operator,” said MacLellan.
Faris Lee's marketing targeted Southern California 1031 buyers, high net worth investors , family offices & syndicators through the company’s proprietary database to identify the buyer.
“With our unparalleled proprietary database and active 1031 tracking system, we were able to generate strong offer activity. We also actively engaged with the lender to ensure high certainty of closing despite the impact of the pandemic on the lending community. Bringing the transaction to a successful close of escrow during the pandemic was a huge win for both buyer and seller.”