Epoch To Make Phoenix Debut With $50M M-F Project; Jerry Simms Pays $45M for Scottsdale Retail Center

By Amalia Otet, Associate Editor

Winter Park, Fla.-based Epoch Properties Inc. is starting work on a $50 million multi-family project that would bring up to 292 new apartments to downtown Phoenix. Epoch plans a second-quarter groundbreaking for the project, which marks the Winter Park, Fla.-based company’s debut in metropolitan Phoenix. Completion is scheduled for early 2015.

Dubbed 11 Capital Place and 12 Capital Place, the property would comprise two four-story structures, each on top of one level of podium parking. A parcel located along the south side of Washington Street at 12th Street is targeted for 152 units and another 140 units are planned for the north side of Washington Street at 11th Street, Business Real Estate Weekly of Arizona. The communities will be adjacent to the 12th Street light rail stop.

Epoch bought the two parcels for $8.1 million in a deal structured by Mark Forrester and Ric Holway of Hendricks Berkadia. reported.

The property is designed to attract young professionals with ties to the legal industry, Arizona State University’s downtown campus and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Archicon, the project’s architect, is designing studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 890 square feet to 1,500 square feet. Monthly rental rates are expected to run from $1,200 to $2,400. Epoch will also manage the properties.

In retail transaction news, an entity controlled by Jerry Simms, owner of the Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix, paid $44.5 million for Shea Scottsdale, a 160,228-square-foot retail center in the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley submarket.

Executive Managing Directors Michael Hackett and Ryan Schubert of Cassidy Turley’s capital markets group represented the seller, Los Angeles-based Karlin Real Estate. Marty De Rito of De Rito Partners in Phoenix represented the buyer.

Completed in 1994, the property is located at 10653 N. Scottsdale Road. Anchored by Safeway and CVS Pharmacy, the center was 95% leased at the time of closing. The transaction included all in-line space as well as additional sites with freestanding structures, including Wells Fargo, McDonalds, MidFirst Bank, Jason’s Deli and Arby’s.

Karlin Real Estate had purchased the asset in October 2011 along with an adjacent 117,025-square-foot retail center, Shea Scottsdale East at 7366 E. Shea Boulevard, for approximately $50 million. At that time, the two centers had a combined overall occupancy of 85%, according to Cassidy Turley. Karlin Real Estate has retained ownership of Shea Scottsdale East.

Shea Scottsdale Shopping Center via Karlin Real Estate website