Tempe Marketplace project refinanced

Vestar Development Co. has partnered with a San Francisco-based real-estate investment firm to refinance its $286 million Tempe Marketplace project and acquire additional retail properties that are now selling at historically low prices.

Vestar said Monday that Rockwood Capital had acquired an equity stake in the 1.3 million-square-foot Tempe shopping center and that the two companies have several additional deals in works in Arizona and California.

"The alliance positions us to take advantage of opportunities in the market as we come out of the downturn," said Vestar President Richard Kuhle.

Rockwood and Vestar teamed to buy out DLJ Credit Suisse's interest in the three-year-old development and secure $200 million in permanent financing for the project. The new financing replaces a short-term construction loan.

Kuhle declined to name the stakes each of the two partners would hold in the center going forward or give details on additional acquisitions.

Joel Mayer, Rockwood's director of retail real estate, called Tempe Marketplace an appealing development that had "thrived through the economic downturn."

Rockwood, a California company that manages a $4.2 billion portfolio of real-estate assets held in eight funds, also was attracted to Vestar's reputation as one of the West's leading shopping-center developers and managers. Vestar will continue to manage Tempe Marketplace and other properties it acquires with Rockwood.

Kuhle said the financing package for Tempe Marketplace represented one of the largest retail-real-estate loans negotiated in the U.S. this year and was an indication that lenders were selectively willing to lend again on retail properties.

The Tempe Marketplace loan is being provided by the German American Capital Corp., a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp.

by Max Jarman The Arizona Republic Dec. 6, 2010 07:21 PM




Tempe Marketplace project refinanced