Jerry Colangelo-led group acquires Tempe marina offices for $928M

PHOENIX — A business partnership that includes Arizona sports icon Jerry Colangelo has bought the Tempe waterfront development Marina Heights for nearly $1 billion.

The sale-leaseback deal — struck late last week — set a price record in the Valley for commercial office property, Business Real Estate Weekly reported.

JDM Partners will pay $928 million for the five-building State Farm campus along Tempe Town Lake. The site is the largest office development in state history, according to project builder Ryan Companies‘s website.

Colangelo’s group teamed up with Houston-based Transwestern Investment Group to make the purchase. The insurance giant’s Town Lake campus takes up nearly 2 million square feet.

Construction began in 2013 and opened in 2015. The buildings sit just north of Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University on Rio Salado Parkway.

Other businesses in the space include a Starbucks, Mountainside Fitness, Matt’s Big Breakfast and an Honor Health facility.

David Eaton and Mel Schultz are partners with Colangelo at Phoenix-based JDM.

Among the projects the trio has overseen were local master-planned communities, business parks, Chase Field and Comerica Theatre.

Colangelo, unofficially recognized as the godfather of pro sports in Phoenix, first ran the Suns then owned them, pulled together investors to buy the expansion baseball franchise Arizona Diamondbacks and helped bring the NHL Arizona Coyotes from Canada to the Valley.

The 78-year-old has been named the NBA’s executive of the year four times, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Suns’ Ring of Honor.

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