Case Study 2

TETRIS AS LIFE

We represented a client who wanted to buy a property that had to meet a seemingly impossible set of criteria. They wanted to run an art gallery, photo studio, glass blowing studio (think gas and blow torches!) have a working kiln (more gas and heat!) and they also wanted to live at the property. Talk about a huge mixed usage issue! There aren’t many properties that will allow the owner to live and work on the same property, especially in downtown Scottsdale. What we really needed was something that was part industrial, part retail and part residential. We shopped around and continued to find properties that managed to address ¾ of the requirement, but not everything. Then we found a listing, in the MLS of all places, for a former gun shop and shooting range that came with an old knitting store and former automotive shop that had been partially turned into a bar. It was a very quirky property and my client had the vision to see the possibilities.

We met with the City Planner several times and hired an architect to help convey the vision for the property. There was another hostile buyer (a big developer) for the property who wanted to raise all the buildings and erect a goliath building in its place for hotel and shopping center, completely changing the neighborhood feel of this area. We beat the other buyer to a contract to purchase the property, however he was not giving up. To try get the property he decided to work the city council members, attempting to get them not to approve my clients use for the property. The developer believed this would lead to him being able to buy us out of the purchase contract. They almost won in the city council, it was a 3-2 vote and finally and my client prevailed! Another hurdle in this process involved the seller, an elderly woman who was in assisted living due to dementia. The seller had designated her son as her guardian, but due to the dementia, she didn’t trust him anymore. The court appointed a representative for her against her son. In order for the purchase to go through we had to go to court to show why we wanted to buy the property and the son had to testify and prove that he was working in her best interests by selling on her behalf. There were no tenants currently in the buildings and the son felt it would be better for her to have the benefit of the sales proceeds to help pay for her care. The trial was tense and yet again we prevailed, the court approved the sale.