Two grocery-anchored retail centers in Phoenix recently sold for a combined total of $14 million. The first property, Safeway Shops at 83rd & Camelback, is a multi-tenant retail center located at 4819 N. 83rd Ave. and 8141 W Camelback Rd. The second property is Happy Valley Walmart Shops.

Safeway Shops is 100 percent occupied to a tenant mix including H&R Block, Great Clips, One Main Financial and a Mexican restaurant. Newmark represented the seller Boros Investments LLC and the buyer Reel Retail Fund I LLC, a Southern California-based investment group adding to its Arizona real estate portfolio.

Happy Valley Walmart Shops, located at 25155 N. 67th Ave. and 6520 W. Happy Valley Rd., is a similar multi-tenant retail center with shops on both sides of a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Tenants include Pacific Dental, Edward Jones, a bagel shop, bike store and sushi restaurant. The buyer was Desert Canyon Investment Properties III LLC, a small partnership in a 1031 tax-deferred exchange from the sale of an apartment complex in Texas. Newmark represented the seller BevNorm Olive LLC.

Newmark’s Steve Julius, Jesse Goldsmith and Chase Dorsett facilitated the transactions. 

“Retail has rebounded strongly in Phoenix. Investors are particularly attracted to daily-need retailers, coined as essential businesses in the pandemic. Therefore, a shopping center next to a busy grocery store that includes tenants like restaurants, hair/beauty/nails, medical and other services are in high demand,” said Julius.

Julius, Goldsmith and Dorsett have been active as of late, completing 10 transactions year-to-date with 12 properties under contract, further confirming metro Phoenix’s strong fundamentals, the rebound of the retail sector and expected growth for the market.

“We are seeing a noticeable uptick in buyer demand, offers and out-of-state investor visits to Phoenix and have recently toured seasoned, experienced investors from Dallas, Cincinnati, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Atlanta, and of course, Southern and Northern California, many of them looking to make their first purchase in Phoenix,” adds Goldsmith.