Courtyard Towers Sells for $21 Million

Press release just out 08 Sept 2015 @ 10:17 a.m. EST

Greystone Real Estate Advisors Closes $21M Sale of 175-Unit Mesa, AZ Seniors Housing Community
See entire release with this link:
http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/09/08/766738/10148543/en/Greystone-Real-Estate-Advisors-Closes-21M-Sale-of-175-Unit-Mesa-AZ-Seniors-Housing-Community.html
NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a real estate lending, investment and advisory company with offices in News York City, today announced its Real Estate Advisors group has closed the sale of Courtyard Towers in Mesa, AZ for $20,864,569.Sierra Capital and Investment Inc purchased the seniors housing property from Harrison Street Real Estate Capital on June 30.
In a listing of recent deals posted online by Western Capital located in Holladay, Utah a bridge loan of $13 Million was provided for the purchase of Courtyard Towers.
A distresses property?
Rumors have circulated for months that the property was only 50% occupied and ripe for some kind of restructuring eliciting a number of investor interests for conversion to student housing or to a mixed-use condo development.
Perhaps this very recent transaction is another signal for opportunities of real estate development and increasing property values along the extension of Valley Metro Light Rail transit into downtown Mesa.
Whether this is an acquisition or a disposition remains to be seen.

According to crunchbase.com Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC is a real estate private equity firm founded in 2005. The firm currently owns real estate assets which includes over 14,500 student housing beds, 4,000 senior housing / assisted living units, over 60,900 self storage units, 2,800 dry & wet boat storage and 855,000 square feet of medical office space.
See more at: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/harrison-street-real-estate-capital#sthash.KCINQ5Q2.dpuf

Just last month the company acquired Dwight Lofts, a 771-bed, student housing property located in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood in a transaction of $105 Million.

Currently the firm and its affiliates manage approximately $7.5 billion in property assets and publicly traded securities through multiple investment vehicles on behalf of Sovereign Wealth Funds, Public & Corporate Pension Funds, Endowments, Insurance Companies, Foundations and Family Offices.

Behind The Scene @ Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

For two new shows on the 10th Anniversary of Mesa Arts Center

Free Online Market Intelligence Tool = MesaSizeUp

According to an insert in Openline, a bi-monthly newsletter for August/September 2015 for Mesa Utility customers, the  City of Mesa and the Mesa Chamber of Commerce have launched a free online tool designed to help Mesa businesses grow by making smarter decisions using data analysis.
The site www.MesaSizeUp.com allows businesses to easily obtain market research and comparative business data on revenues, salaries, competitors, customer demographics and aggregates millions of data points [Whoa! Millions, that's a lot] from public and private sources to provide four main tools:

Performance Benchmarking
Competitive Assessment
Advertising Analysis
Demographic Analysis
If you choose to register, you can receive data update alerts quarterly.You can sign up to register on the site to have an alert sent to revise your analyses with the most current data.

Bill Jabjiniak, Economic Development Director, said "Our goal is to help Mesa businesses succeed by making it simple to access relevant and powerful data to make sound business decisions."

If you want to learn more about data points and visualization, the book image to the left is highly recommended

MesaSizeUp is powered by SizeUpLBI, a service of GIS Planning
http://www.gisplanning.com/about.html

Read all the news about GIS Planning:
http://www.gisplanning.com/InNews/in-the-news.html

 

For additional site searches you can also use this link that is associated with the Arizona Commerce Authority http://www.arizonaprospector.com/



Channel Change-Up: BBC News Magazine Minor League Baseball Season Here in Mesa



Scanning news from around the world, your MesaZona blogger was surprised by the Brits - with favorite national sports like cricket, rugby and football [soccer] - would even bother to write about minor league summer baseball here at Hohokam Stadium.
"Minor" league? And rookies? And that sends the North American reporter for world broadcaster BBC News here to Arizona where the average temperatures for over 100 days is over 100 degrees and teams are practicing and sweating.

And how many "locals" even know about the 10-week season for the Arizona League that started in July? In a report September 5, 2015 BBC says that "And yet in Arizona, this is baseball weather. Every June, hundreds gather in spring training complexes run by Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises on the outskirts of Phoenix to play . . .  It's the bottom rung of professional baseball, the farthest point from the big leagues one can inhabit while still drawing a paycheque.
The League of Fire, as it's sometimes called, is populated by a collection of teenagers fresh out of high school, former university-level players, recent arrivals from overseas teams and veterans working their way back from injury."

Read the whole article with this link: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34110560

BBC's North American reporter Anthony Zurcher was here for a game  between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics  with these remarks: "There are no cheering crowds. Although admission is free, few area residents know about the games - and those who do aren't particularly interested in braving the evening heat when there are no food vendors, no public address announcers and no jumbo-sized scoreboards showing player names or instant replays.
Often the games look more like a community softball match than the proving ground for future stars."
More than half the 37 players on the A's hail from Latin and South America, so Spanish often is the primary language in the dugout. In the major leagues 29% of the players are Latino.
There are stories of success mentioned:
Dakota Chalmers - an 18-year-old from Georgia - is just starting to learn about the endurance test that is a professional baseball season. During the evening's game, he sits at a table behind home plate, jotting down information on the night's starting pitcher, Xavier Altamirano.
Just a few months ago, Chalmers was pitching in high school. Now, as Oakland's third selection in the 2015 player draft, he's the second-youngest player on the A's team. He's also a millionaire.
Although the standard pay for Arizona League players is meagre, high draft picks are offered a one-time signing bonus. Chalmers, who can throw a baseball 94 miles per hour and mix in slower pitches that swerve and dive as a batter swings, pocketed $1.4m to play for the A's.
The City of Mesa and the teams using Hohokam Stadium are seeing a $99 million dollar investment paying off.
 

What Works: Housing First for Homeless Veterans

Just received about an hour ago via email from City of Mesa Newsroom:
Homeless Veteran gets home
thanks to Housing Mesa's Heroes Program
Post date: 09/02/2015 @ 11:55

Connect to the city newsroom with this link for more details, information, images and speeches http://www.mesaaz.gov/Home/Components/News/News/456/

Group image from Mayor's Challenge

Since 2010, there has been a 33 percent reduction on homelessness among veterans following the federal government’s launch of Opening Doors, a strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. This reduction has been achieved through a partnership between the federal government, local governments, non-profit organizations and the private sector – making the elimination of veteran homelessness an achievable goal.

Anyone interested in donating to help end veteran homelessness through the Housing Mesa’s Heroes program should contact Lori Eastin at Community Bridges, Inc.at LEastin@cbridges.com or (480) 831-7566.

We Are A What Works City! > Now Is The Time for Open Data in Mesa

Open Gvt Voices

A guest opinion piece on Sunlight Foundation OpenGov Voices blog by Alex Deshuk [Chief Innovation Officer for City of Mesa] on August 10, 2015 @ 12:01 a.m.

[Excerpts included here. Please read here for complete post.]

Mesa is excited to be involved in Bloomberg’s What Works Cities initiative because of the way it engages the public in discussing the data behind key strategic decisions . . . We plan on using Sunlight’s open data principles and guidelines as we build our strategic priorities and open data strategy to improve where we work, live and play in Mesa. We want to build an open data portal that provides a visual around our strategic goals to increase understanding internally and externally. In addition to the visual charts or maps, we’ll provide the full dataset for the public to use and expand upon.
Aligning with mayoral, council and city manager priorities, we will begin this process concentrating on three citywide strategic efforts: 

• Increase the prosperity of Mesa residents
• Reduce blight in Mesa
• Increase the vitality and vibrancy of downtown Mesa. 

Much more to come on the specifics! . . .  [left blank, but a promise] . . . 
Open data is about transparency, yes – but it’s also about better decision-making. An open data portal should be the way citizens see clear demonstration of progress (or not!) with specific goals or performance using data, not rhetoric; a dialogue to discuss what’s important among the noise; another way to identify gaps or new areas of interest. 

Twitter and Facebook counters from site as of today

Alex Deshuk at center in image
from City of Mesa Newsroom

Who is Alex Deshuk? Alex Deshuk is the chief innovation officer for the City of Mesa, Ariz., and is a direct report to the city manager. He oversees a combined team of 400 employees and an operating budget of approximately $50 million. He is responsible for championing new and existing initiatives that streamline operations and improve customer service, as well as overseeing complex organizational change projects including technology and vertical business applications. 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation.

Another First for Mesa: MultiMedia Gaming Convention > GameON Expo

WHAT IS THE GAME ON EXPO?
The Game On Expo is a gaming convention that focuses on all aspects of gaming including: both modern and retro gaming, arcades, board games and card games.
Here's a link to a more details article from Phoenix New Times 
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/game-on-expo-in-downtown-mesa-a-field-guide-to-this-weekends-event-7597834

The new Game On Expo brings you the first ever multimedia gaming convention in Arizona. 
Video games, card games, RPGs, board games and all of the pop culture and art that inspired them! Play in our interactive museum! Buy and test new exclusive games! Shop our awesome vendor hall! Attend panels with industry designers and pro players! Play in tournaments, challenge others at our Retro Championships and win prizes! All that and much more... this is just the beginning!

ARE YOU READY FOR AN EPIC ADVENTURE?

Arizona’s first ever multimedia gaming convention, and it will be happening HERE Friday thru Sunday at the Mesa Convention Center.

Some of the main attractions at the Game On Expo are the RetroFest, which will be a reimagining of Nintendo’s famous 1994 tournament, PowerFest.
One of the other main highlights of the event will be the debut of the RETRO Video Game System, which will be the first cartridge based video game system made in nearly twenty years. This will gave Arizona gamers some early, exclusive access to brand new games and hardware long before they are made available to the public. 
Saturday at the Game On Expo will feature a video game auction where people can bring their video game related items and auction them off. The auction will also be helping to benefit the Extra Life charity. 
For more information, visit the event's website
http://azgameonexpo.com/