Liberty Property Trust announced the signing of a 96,000 square foot lease with DriveTime Automotive Group for a new corporate headquarters in Liberty Center at Rio Salado in Tempe. It will be the third class-A office building that Liberty will deliver at its newly launched park since construction began in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“We are excited to continue the development momentum at Liberty Center at Rio Salado by providing an opportunity for DriveTime to expand,” John DiVall, senior vice president and city manager for Liberty’s Arizona region. “When designing Liberty Center at Rio Salado our intent was to design a first-class park to cater to high-profile companies such as DriveTime and we look forward to working with them to create an innovative new corporate headquarters that will reflect their identity.”
“DriveTime selected Liberty Center at Rio Salado not only for the central location and amenities of the Tempe Town Lake area but also for the quality of Liberty Property Trust projects,” said Ernie Garcia, Chairman of the Board of DriveTime. Garcia continued, “We are confident that the new building that Liberty develops will be key to attracting and retaining over 300 new employees that will join the 250 existing quality employees that will work together under one roof at the new DriveTime Home Offices in Tempe.”
Located at 1720 West Rio Salado Parkway, the building will be designed and constructed to meet the LEED® Silver level of certification for new construction. The building will feature high performance glazing, 16 foot open ceilings, a large atrium lobby, state-of-the-art telecommunications, LED lighting, and six-per-1,000 parking. Twenty percent of the building’s construction materials will consist of recycled content, including the concrete, steel, aluminum, and drywall. Liberty anticipates the project completion by November 2015.
DriveTime joins other new technology businesses that have moved to or expanded in Tempe’s urban core, adding thousands of new jobs to the valley city. “We are thrilled that DriveTime selected Tempe and Liberty Center and we were happy to work with the Discovery Triangle Development Corporation on this project. DriveTime will bring hundreds of new high-paying technology jobs and young people to our city to add to the quality growth we have seen in recent years,” said Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell.
The architect for the building is Butler Design Group, the interior architect is PDO (Phoenix Design One)and the general contractor is Wespac Construction.
Fred Darche of Lee & Associates and Tom Adelson of CBRE represented Drive Time and Brand Anderson and Mike Strittmatter of CBRE represented Liberty in the transaction.
The lease agreement with DriveTime also brings Liberty’s year-to-date total leased space in Arizona to more than 600,000 square feet, a record for the region.
