University Athletic Facilities District Created; Multifamily Market Very Much Alive

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

Phoenix is well underway to become one of the most sport-centric cities in the U.S. Maricopa County recently voted in favor of creating a special revenue district that will aid Arizona State in the development of refurbishing athletic facilities. This would further increase Phoenix’s already longstanding appeal to sports lovers as a result of the spring training facilities that reside all over the metro area.

The Tucson Citizen and The Arizona Republic report that the essential funding mechanism of the measure works much like a property tax that only applies to commercial developments on land owned by the academic institution. The main objective right now is to get Sun Devil Stadium into shape. The 50 year-old arena is in need of refurbishments. The costs will most likely end up being around $170 million and the project will be completed in approximately 10 years. Wells Fargo Arena, Packard Stadium, Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex and the Sun Angel Stadium are among the names of venues that will most likely benefit from the University Athletic Facilities District.

In other real estate news, Phoenix has kept up its multifamily appeal with a brand new deal closed for a lakefront apartment facility in Mesa. The Aventerra at Dobson Ranch was bought by Summit Aventerra LLC, a venture created by Los Angeles-based Summit Equity Investments Inc. The seller was Special Service LNR Partners LLC from Florida, which owned the residential complex since buying it through foreclosure in September 2010. The value of the transaction goes up to $29.1 million for the 1980-built community that, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, boasted an 87 percent occupancy rate at the time of the sale.