Phoenix-based Vestar, a national retail developer, was the sole bidder and winner on Wednesday of the Desert Ridge Marketplace property in north Phoenix.
Vestar DRM-OPCO LLC, an entity connected to Vestar, acquired the 115 acres from the Arizona State Land Department for the minimum bid of $29.4 million.
Vestar was not immediately available for comment about the auction. It's unclear if Vestar has any other plans for the 1.2 million-square-foot mall, which is located at 21001 N. Tatum Blvd.
The auction comes after Vestar first developed the $180 million Phoenix mall in 2001 and entered into a long-term ground lease with the state-owned site, according to an Urban Land Institute case study of the mall [casestudies.uli.org]. The ground lease of the site had cost Vestar $27.5 million.
Arizona State Land Department documents say that Vestar wanted to extinguish the 99-year lease and purchase the underlying land fee's simple interest. Vestar previously said it had invested $22 million on renovations [bizjournals.com] to the center in the 2010s.
Read more of this story from the Business Journal.
Photo: Desert Ridge Credit: Provided by Vestar/Tac Coluccio
Caption: The main entrance of the Desert Ridge Marketplace.
