Sentinel Buys Luxury M-F in Scottsdale for $58M; Fountain Hills Plaza Commands $21M

By Amalia Otet, Associate Editor

In a $57.8 million deal, New York City-based Sentinel Real Estate Corp. purchased The Paragon at Kierland, a 276-unit, Class A luxury apartment complex located on the Westin Kierland Golf Course in Scottsdale, from Sunstone Realty Advisors of Vancouver, Canada. The sales price equates to $209,239 per unit or $200 a square foot.

According to Colliers International, which structured the deal, the transaction is the highest per unit sale to date in 2013 and the highest per unit sale in the last five years for properties without an active condo map in the Phoenix market. More than 65 investors bid on the property and 22 investors placed bids at more than $50 million, Colliers reported.

Colliers’ team of Jerry Tenge, senior vice president of multifamily investments; and Tristan Charlesworth, an associate; exclusively represented Sunstone.

Located at 15608 N. 71st Street, The Paragon sits on a 10.4-acre pad within walking distance of 30 restaurants and more than 100 specialty shops at Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter.

The complex was built in 2000 and underwent extensive renovations in 2008. Consisting of 289,233 rentable square feet in 23 three-story buildings, along with a single-story recreation building, the property features one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes ranging in size from 924 square feet to 1,323 square feet. Community amenities include a lagoon-style pool with a whirlpool spa, fire pit and cabanas, a fitness center, and lush landscaping. Occupancy was 98 percent at the time of closing.

In retail investment news, Whitestone REIT acquired Fountain Hills Plaza, a Class A neighborhood retail center in Fountain Hills, for $20.5 million. Located at 16605 Palisades Blvd., the 111,289-square-foot center is jointly anchored by grocery and hardware stores. It serves Fountain Hills, an affluent master-planned community of 10,000 households.

According to James C. Mastandrea, Whitestone’s chairman and CEO, the transaction reflects the Houston-based-REIT’s strategy of picking up off-market properties with significant value-add potential. Included in the deal was an adjacent one-acre development-ready pad site that could accommodate an additional 7,000 square feet of multi-tenant retail space.The center and adjacent parcel were acquired for a combined price of $185 per leasable built square foot.

Whitestone’s holdings in metropolitan Phoenix encompass 20 community centers totaling 1.6 million square feet, plus four land parcels that are available for future development. The REIT’s other recent acquisitions include Mercado at Scottsdale Ranch, The Pinnacle of Scottsdale, The Shops at Pinnacle Peak, Terravita Marketplace, Village Square at Dana Park, and Anthem Marketplace.

The Paragon at Kierland rendering via Official Website

Fountain Hills Plaza photo courtesy of Business Wire