Month: February 2015

The sale underscores the attractiveness of the project and Old Town Scottsdale.

“The Old Town Scottsdale office market is an extremely popular area that is experiencing steadily rising rents and values,” said Velocis Principal Paul Smith. “Camelback Square is our first acquisition in the Phoenix market, and one we hope to build on as we pursue additional assets in the Southwest region.”

The project buyer, Dallas-based Velocis, has been active in real estate investment since 2011, purchasing 16 assets located in markets in Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. Velocis is led by a team of five seasoned principals who are directly responsible for the acquisition, asset management and disposition of assets.

LPC will continue to manage the property for the new owner.

“Over the last few years, we’ve witnessed a strong tenant demand in Old Town Scottsdale due to the surrounding amenity base of high-end residential, luxury shopping, hotels and entertainment options,” said Oaktree Managing Director Mark Jacobs. “We believe the tenant demand will continue and are looking to make additional investments in Old Town Scottsdale along with other areas of Phoenix.”

The 174,917-square-foot Camelback Square is located at 6991 E. Camelback Rd., at the southwest corner of Camelback and Goldwater roads. It is currently 95 percent leased to tenants including Mastro’s City Hall Steakhouse, ZocDoc, Regus, Ashton Woods, Echo Global Logistics and Digital Airstrike. The project’s on-site amenities include the award-winning Mastro’s (a top 10 steakhouse in the U.S.), a bistro, tenant collaboration space and common area Wi-Fi.

“Old Town Scottsdale is an example of the new creative office environment, with the amenities investors look for to deliver solid rent growth, rising values and strong tenants year after year,” said Lincoln Property Company’s Executive Vice President David Krumwiede, who completed the deal along with Vice President Amr Ceran. “We recognized this when we purchased Camelback Square almost four years ago, and that foundation is even more evident today – following the execution of a repositioning plan that re-energized this asset as a long term centerpiece project.”

LPC and Oaktree purchased Camelback Square out of special servicing in June 2011. Since that time, they have completed a major renovation including new building entrances, modern lobby and common area finishes, a courtyard water feature and patio furniture, and upgraded building signage. They also initiated an aggressive leasing plan that – in partnership with Bill Blake, Craig Coppola, Andrew Cheney, Colton Trauter and Gregg Kafka of Lee & Associates – moved the project from just 50 percent occupied to almost 100 percent occupied.

Barry Gabel, Chris Marchildon, Kevin Shannon, Ken White and Paul Jones of CBRE led the project’s investment sales listing campaign.

Camelback Square sits adjacent to the 2 million-square-foot Scottsdale Fashion Square regional shopping center featuring the state’s only Barney’s New York and Neiman Marcus. It is located in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale, a submarket that consistently attracts forward-thinking companies seeking the area’s contemporary mix of office, residential, dining, arts and entertainment destinations.

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Terms of the acquisition were undisclosed. Velocis bought the property from a joint venture between Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. and a fund managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP.

The three-story, 174,917-square-foot office building, called Camelback Square, sits at the southwest corner of Camelback and Goldwater roads at 6991 E. Camelback Road in Scottsdale. The property is 95 percent leased, with tenants including Ashton Woods, Mastro’s City Hall Steakhouse and Digital Airstrike.

Along with the steakhouse, the property also has a bistro, tenant meeting space and a common area outfitted with Wi-Fi for tenants. In the past few years, the property has undergone a series of renovations, including new building entrances, a modern lobby, a courtyard water feature and patio feature and updated common area finishes.

The Old Town Scottsdale office market has been extremely popular, with steadily rising rents and property values, Velocis Principal Paul Smith said.

“Camelback Square is our first acquisition in the Phoenix market, and one we hope to build on as we pursue additional assets in the Southwest region,” Smith said.

Since becoming active in real estate investment in 2011, Velocis has bought 16 office properties in Texas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

In June 2011, the previous ownership group bought the property from a special servicer and with the help of brokers from Lee & Associates has leased up the building from 50 percent to now about 95 percent of the property leased by tenants.

CBRE’s Barry Gabel, Chris Marchildon, Kevin Shannon, Ken White and Paul Jones led the marketing of the building.The Old Town Scottsdale property will continue to be managed by Lincoln Property Co. for Velocis.

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Lincoln Property Co reaped the benefit of good timing and capital improvements with the sale of Camelback Square in Old Town Scottsdale to Dallas-based Velocis, a private equity real estate fund that paid over $42M. Lincoln Property and Oaktree Capital Management acquired Camelback Square out of special servicing back in 2011 for a reported $19M. They then followed a repositioning plan that re-energized the 175k SF asset as a centerpiece project, EVP David Krumwiede tells us (snapped with his daughter at the Cubs spring training facility). Also, Old Town Scottsdale is the revitalized kind of place investors look for, because tenants want to be there now. David completed the deal along with VP Amr Ceran.

Since ’11, Lincoln Property completed new building entrances, modern lobby and common area finishes, a courtyard water feature and patio furniture, and upgraded building signage. The company also initiated an aggressive leasing plan in partnership with Lee & Associates that moved the building from 50% occupied to 95%. Velocis has been a real estate investor since 2011, acquiring 16 assets in markets in Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. The buyer cites the steadily rising rents and values in Old Town Scottsdale as proof that the market’s getting even stronger.

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New contributing editors for 2015 include company presidents Charlie Myers of MYCON General Contractors, Scott Beck of Beck Ventures, Greg Miller of Henry S. Miller Cos., and Justin Keane of Wynmark Commercial. Joseph Cahoon, director of SMU’s Folsom Institute for Real Estate also is on board, as are research experts Walter Bialas of JLL, Chris Summers of Xceligent Inc., and Ian Pierce of The Weitzman Group.

Here’s more information on all 20 new contributors. Watch for their posts in the coming weeks, and see the full lineup of D Real Estate Daily contributing editors here.

Paul Smith. A principal at Velocis, Paul Smith has nearly three decades of experience in dealing with institutional real estate clients, including portfolio management, marketing, financing, acquisitions and dispositions involving nearly every product type. He previously was chief operating officer of Brook Partners in Dallas and managing director at Crescent Real Estate. Prior to that, he was with Invesco Real Estate. Smith is a graduate of Harvard University and received his MBA from The University of Texas-Austin.

Jim Yoder. A founding principal at Velocis, Jim Yoder has more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience in leasing, asset management, acquisition, disposition, due diligence and market intelligence. He previously was managing director of JLL’s investor services group, serving both institutional and private clients, and prior to that was a principal at Trammell Crow Co., where he directed both the corporate advisory services division and the office buildings group.

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