Tempe's Centerpoint on Mill sold to Bob Parsons for $38 million

Kristena Hansen

Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

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The Centerpoint on Mill — a 127,027-square-foot mixed-use project in the heart of downtown Tempe — has been sold to a company controlled by Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons for $38.35 million, according to a joint statement Tuesday from DMB Associates Inc. and CBRE Inc.
Located on 22 acres at the northwest corner of Mill Avenue and University Drive, Centerpoint includes about 20,000 square feet of office space, several eateries — such as P.F. Chang’s, Fat Tuesday, Jimmy John’s and Pita Pit — and a 37,645-square-foot movie theater. That theater once housed a Harkins Theaters, the short-lived MADCAP theater and will soon be occupied by AMC Theaters. The office space is fully leased while the retail space is 87 percent leased.
Parsons bought 6.19 acres of the total development.
The complex was sold by Scottsdale-based DMB Associates Inc., which began building Centerpoint nearly three decades ago as its first large-scale mixed-use development and through a public-private partnership with the city, the statement said.
The statement only specified the buyer as Mill Avenue Retail LLC, not mentioning Parsons. But according to its corporate filing with the Arizona Corporation Commission, that entity was formed in early August by Dan Dahl, who is handling Parsons’ growing real estate portfolio, and other members Steve Gabbay and Anne O’Moore.
“Over the past 28 years, the City of Tempe and DMB have worked together to create a point of pride for the Valley, a truly urban destination that models the live, work, play ideal,” Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said in the statement. “DMB’s work as placemakers, developing a downtown core featuring high-quality national and local retailers, unique dining, art, theater, and residential, has helped brand Tempe as a destination for tourists and locals.”
Glenn Smigiel, a CBRE broker who helped represent DMB in the transaction, said the project was an “excellent” investment opportunity for the buyer.
“The sale of Centerpoint on Mill is an indicator of the health of the Tempe market and the continued strengthening of the Phoenix-metro area in general,” Smigiel said.
Since selling a portion of Go Daddy to a private equity firm in 2011 for $2.25 billion, Parsons has been on a buying spree of Valley real estate, so far scooping up more than $163 million worth of commercial properties, according to the Business Real Estate Weekly of Arizona.
The Centerpoint project is arguably the most high-profile of his holdings.

Kristena Hansen covers residential and commercial real estate.