Westwood Financial Corp., a leading owner-operator of high-quality shopping centers with a portfolio totaling over $1.5 billion throughout the U.S., has sold Tatum Plaza, a 29,460 square-foot, neighborhood shopping center in the Phoenix submarket of Cave Creek, Arizona for $9.45 million.
Shadow-anchored by Fry’s Food & Drugs and nearly fully occupied at the time of sale, the center features a diverse tenant mix of 15 national and regional retailers, including Baskin Robbins, Papa Murphy’s, Hi-Health, and Glamour Nail Spa, among others.
“Our niche strategy of investing in grocery-anchored, necessity retail centers in the top metropolitan markets throughout the nation enabled us to identify and deliver tremendous value for this asset,” explains Joe Dykstra, Co-CEO of Westwood Financial. “We recognized the potential of this center and submarket early on, and seized the opportunity to lease up the existing vacancies and diversify the center with quality tenants. In doing so, we were able to add significant value and achieve competitive returns in a short period of time.”
Westwood Financial initially acquired Tatum Plaza in January 2014. During its ownership, Westwood filled the retail center with high-quality tenants and brought the asset to 97 percent occupancy, increasing the asset’s net operating income and driving strong cash flow for investors.
“Westwood’s investment thesis has always been to target markets with favorable demographics and long-term growth potential, which is exactly what we did with this asset,” continues Dykstra. “We identified the Phoenix MSA as a market poised for strong employment gains and expansion, and capitalized on this rapid growth to realize the asset’s full potential during our ownership.”
Dykstra notes that many high-tech companies have relocated or expanded to Phoenix, including McKesson, Dexcom, DoubleDutch, and Entertainment Partners, among others, solidifying the region’s reputation as the “Silicon Desert.” Phoenix’s influx of high-paying jobs, coupled with its population growth, has translated to strong consumer demand for this retail center, resulting in steady revenue streams and attractive returns to investors.
“Retail remains a viable asset class for investors, provided the center offers a diverse, high-quality tenant mix in a desirable location with strong demand drivers,” notes Randy Banchik, Co-CEO of Westwood Financial. “In this case, we drew upon our expertise in daily needs centers to further optimize this well-located asset. As a result, we were able to attract significant investor interest from a wide range of buyers, enabling us to command a competitive price and maximize the profitability of our investment.”
Banchik adds that the success of this sale speaks to the strength of Westwood’s investment platform, as well as its ability to reposition and stabilize retail centers in order to generate strong risk-adjusted returns on behalf of investors.
Situated in the heart of the Tatum Ranch Master Planned Community, at the corner of Tatum Boulevard and Cave Creek Road, the property serves as the dominant neighborhood shopping center for residents and local businesses in the area.
The property is located at 29455 N. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek, Arizona. Ryan Schubert and Michael Hackett of Cushman & Wakefield represented both the buyer, SWC 28th and Peoria Investors, LLC, and the seller in this transaction.
