HOUSTON, Sept. 17, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) ("Whitestone"), a fully integrated real estate company that owns, operates and redevelops Community Centered Properties™, announced that occupancy at its 310,000 square foot Village Square at Dana Park property increased 11% to 82%, up from 71% when the property was purchased in September 2012. The increase is the result of signing six new leases totaling approximately 34,000 square feet at the Mesa, Arizona property.
Pita Jungle, Potato Barn, Soma Intimates, Guitar Center, Sylvia's, and Thinique have been welcomed to the center over the past year. These new tenants join current tenants, such as AJ's Fine Grocery, Ra Sushi, California Pizza Kitchen, Pei Wei, Chico's, Anthropology, Orange Theory Fitness, and Fuchsia Beauty, to meet the needs of young urban professionals, affluent families and savvy suburbanites surrounding Dana Park in Mesa and neighboring Gilbert/Chandler communities.
The six new tenants include:
Guitar Center: Known as the largest retailer of musical instruments across the United States, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Guitar Center's historic first-steps to helping people make music. Guitar Center enables musicians and non-musicians alike to experience the almost indescribable joy that comes from playing an instrument at one of their many national locations.
Pita Jungle: Fast growing Pita Jungle is a healthy restaurant specializing in Greek, Mediterranean, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, vegetarian and vegan dishes made from fresh, nutritious ingredients. Nominated for AZ Foothills 2014 Best of Our Valley Food & Restaurants, Pita Jungle prides itself and encourages patrons to partake in "The Art of Eating Healthy®."
Potato Barn: Joining the other furniture based retailers at Village Square at Dana Park, The Potato Barn is a family-owned Arizona furniture store featuring a unique collection of eclectic and one-of-a-kind pieces imported from around the globe. The company has been helping patrons choose the perfect furniture for their home or office from their two locations in Gilbert and Scottsdale for over 30 years.
Sylvia's Designers Touch: Sylvia's Designers Touch was founded in 1983 and has become a landmark women's boutique in the Phoenix-Mesa metro area. The boutique carries casual updated women's sportswear from the best designers and manufacturers in sizes 2-20, and can also be purchased through their new online store.
Soma: Soma offers an exclusive collection of women's lingerie. Founded by Chico's with 2,560 boutiques since opening in 2004, Soma continues to revolutionize women's intimates with exclusive innovations.
Thinique: Thinique is the physician supervised medical weight loss program that shows clients the way to shedding pounds. Their experienced and uniquely trained staff of medical professionals provides a wide menu of products and customized services to help achieve optimal weight levels. Thinique has over 200 units in development nationally and welcomes walk-ins.
More about Village Square at Dana Park:
Village Square at Dana Park, the 70-acre open-air center on the northwest corner of Val Vista Drive and Baseline Road at Superstition Highway 60 in Mesa, Arizona, has been described as an urban-minded lifestyle center because of its dynamic community gathering presence and quality of stores. The center, with a traffic count of over 254,000 cars per day from Superstition Highway 60, is well located in the fast growing area of Mesa-Gilbert-Chandler.
Mesa, as part of the Phoenix-Mesa metro area, is home to more than 14,000 businesses including a large number of technology companies in many different sectors along the Elliott Road Technology Core. GT Advanced Technologies alone, that manufactures products for Apple Inc. in the corridor, is responsible for adding up to 2,000 jobs in engineering, manufacturing and construction at their 1.3 million square foot facility. Village Square at Dana Park is minutes away from prominent companies such Boeing, Bridgestone Corporation and FUJIFILM Electronic Materials USA.
James C. Mastandrea, Whitestone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Village Square at Dana Park was acquired by Whitestone in an off-market transaction for $149 per square foot. The purchase included underutilized property we will be able to transform to meet the needs of the community and create significant upside value." Mastandrea added, "We have the opportunity to drive value by adding additional retail and create a pedestrian friendly environment with open community space providing a desirable place for daily living." Mastandrea concluded, "We look forward to giving the community a new center transformed and filled with energy, transcending the traditional shopping and dining experience to one of a new urban dynamism."
About Whitestone REIT
Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) is a fully integrated real estate investment trust ("REIT") that owns, operates and redevelops Community Centered Properties™. Whitestone focuses on value creation in its community centers, concentrating on local service-oriented tenants that comprise approximately 70% of its tenants. Whitestone's diversified tenant base provides service offerings including medical, education, casual dining, and convenience services. The largest of its 1,232 tenants comprised less than 1.9% of its annualized base rental revenues as of June 30, 2014. Founded in 1998, the Company is internally managed with a portfolio of 61 commercial properties in Texas, Arizona, and Illinois. For additional information about the Company, please visit www.whitestonereit.com.