Arizona’s tallest building sold in foreclosure deal

Wentworth: ‘Big believers in downtown Phoenix’

Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix has sold for almost $79 million. The iconic tower was purchased by a partnership managed by the Phoenix-based Wentworth Property Co. after a New York group, CRZ Phoenix LLC, defaulted on a $198.5 million loan for the building with Deutsche Banc Mortgage.

Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix has sold for almost $79 million through a foreclosure deal, and its new owners said plans are underway to renovate the tower built in 1972.

The 40-story office high-rise is Arizona’s tallest building.

It recently was purchased by a partnership managed by the Phoenix-based Wentworth Property Co.

A New York group, CRZ Phoenix LLC, defaulted on a $198.5 million loan for the building with Deutsche Banc Mortgage, according to public real-estate records.

CRZ is affiliated with the group that paid $166.9 million for the tower, anchored by Chase, in 2007.

Located at 201 N. Central Ave., the building is 483 feet tall and has 724,000 square feet of space. It was originally built for Valley National Bank.

“We had an exceptional opportunity to become the owners of Phoenix’s most iconic office building,” said Jim Wentworth, a principal with Wentworth. “We are big believers in downtown Phoenix.”

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, in a statement, called the Chase Tower “a critical employment center and a landmark.”

Wentworth said, “We can’t imagine a building we would rather own in this vibrant urban core than Chase Tower.”

New York-based banking giant JP Morgan Chase currently occupies 27 floors of the Chase Tower.

Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot, a spokeswoman for Chase, said the company was evaluating its future plans for space in the downtown building.

Chase bought land and buildings for a 67-acre business park in Tempe last year. At the time, the company, which employs about 10,400 in Arizona, said it would start shifting some operations this year to its new location in Discovery Business Park, at the northwestern corner of Elliot Road and Loop 101.

The new campus could house more than 4,000 Chase employees who work in mortgages, credit cards and other consumer-banking areas.