Aeneas Pays $17 Million for Phoenix Warehouse in Foreclosure

Aeneas Venture Partners 4 has bought a landmark warehouse in Downtown Phoenix that was approved for the addition of a 25-story hotel and condominium tower.

The locally based lender paid $17.2 million to buy out of foreclosure the former headquarters of the Arizona Opportunities Industrialization Center at 39 East Jackson Street, in the Central Business District, AZCentral and the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

Thunderbird Legacy Development and the OIC nonprofit had planned to redevelop the century-old Arizona Hardware Company building, which was to serve as a base for a 270-foot-tall tower with a 225-room hotel and 151 condominiums, approved in 2021.

The mixed-used luxury tower was to have been operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which included Fairmont-branded residences and five restaurants run by Alessandro “Alex” Stratta.

The residences were to have an exclusive owner’s lounge, outdoor swimming pool and hot tub, fitness center, dedicated parking and a private entrance. The condos were to be “among the most luxurious residential offerings in the city,” according to a Fairmont announcement.

The 705,500-square-foot Fairmont Phoenix had been slated to open this year, with ground-floor shops and offices that included a home for the OIC. But it never broke ground.

The locally based Thunderbird, hampered by pandemic market conditions, then defaulted on its $15 million loan. This month, Aeneas Venture Partners 4 bought back the building as the sole bidder in a January trustee auction for $17.2 million.

It’s not clear what Aeneas wants to do with the two-story landmark warehouse.

David Leibowitz, a spokesman for Aeneas Venture Partners, said the goal is to “create something on this beautiful piece of property,” but that it’s too early to say what that will be.

He said the buyers want to keep Fairmont engaged, but he didn’t know the status of those conversations.

“They’ve owned the property for about two weeks, they’re at the very beginning of trying to figure out what to do next,” Leibowitz told the Business Journal.

— Dana Bartholomew