Investors pay $17M for 3-acre parking lot in Downtown Phoenix

Mark Dye and Eric Steven Ansel picked up 2.57 acres in Downtown Phoenix near the Diamondbacks’ Chase Field for $17.3 million for continued use as a parking lot.

The local investors bought the parking operation at 520 South 5th Street, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. The seller was Arthur Pearce, whose family had owned Pearce Beverage, a distributor for Coors beer, for nearly a century.

The all-cash deal works out to $6.73 million per acre.

The buyers had recently sold a cluster of properties, including Lincoln Union at 425 East  Lincoln Street, for $38.63 million, according to the Business Journal. The buyer was Matt Ishbia, owner of the Phoenix Suns, who plans to turn them into a headquarters and training center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.

Jim Schaller of Schaller Real Estate negotiated the $17.3 million sale of the parking lot to Dye and Ansel, near the northwest corner of Seventh and Lincoln streets.

“It was a situation where they teamed up and approached Art Pearce for a 1031 exchange,” Schaller told the Business Times.

A 1031 exchange allows an owner to sidestep taxes on a property sale if he or she reinvests the proceeds into a replacement property.

A previous owner of the parking lot had once filed a preliminary plan to redevelop it into apartments, according to city records.

Under Dye and Ansel, operator of the lot, it will continue to operate as a parking lot, Schaller said.

Dye, a resident of Scottsdale, is affiliated with private equity firm Dye Capital and head of Dye Family Foundation, according to Bizapedia and Grantmakers. Ansel is tied to ESA Properties I, based in Paradise Valley, according to state business records.

— Dana Bartholomew

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