Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT Acquires Walmart-Anchored Grand Canyon Crossing in Phoenix Through Sterling Organization Joint Venture
Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, Inc. has acquired Grand Canyon Crossing, a 99%-occupied shopping center anchored by a Walmart Supercenter in Phoenix, Arizona, the firm announced Sept. 29. The transaction was executed through CNSREIT's programmatic joint venture with Sterling Organization, a retail-focused private equity real estate firm.
Grand Canyon Crossing sits on 33 acres at the intersection of Bethany Home Road and 35th Avenue in Phoenix. The center was built in 2005 and is anchored by a 207,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter that draws approximately 3.7 million annual visitors, placing it among the top 1% of Walmart locations nationally. Additional tenants at the property include Harbor Freight, Starbucks, Wendy's, Jamba and Sonic.
Investment Rationale and Asset Profile
The acquisition aligns with CNSREIT's stated strategy of targeting well-occupied, income-generating shopping centers anchored by necessity-based retailers in growing, supply-constrained markets. The Phoenix metropolitan area's combination of population growth and business-friendly regulatory environment factored into the decision, the firm said.
The property serves a three-mile trade area with approximately 220,000 residents and $12.3 billion in purchasing power — ranking it second in CNSREIT's portfolio by combined purchasing power within that radius. Grand Canyon University, with approximately 133,000 students, is located about 1.5 miles from the center, adding a substantial nearby consumer base. The North Phoenix/I-17 retail submarket has averaged approximately 6% annual rent growth over the past five years.
James S. Corl, chief executive officer of CNSREIT and head of the private real estate group at Cohen & Steers, described the opportunity in terms of operational upside rather than occupancy recovery. "Grand Canyon Crossing is a compelling example of a center where extreme density is driving exceptional anchor sales and traffic, but where the existing in-line merchandising mix is not positioned to best monetize this traffic," Corl said. "This provides our partnership with a significant opportunity to do just that."
The comment points to a leasing and merchandising repositioning strategy targeting the center's smaller in-line spaces, even as the property's 99% occupancy provides near-term income stability.
Phoenix Retail Market Context
The acquisition comes as Phoenix retail fundamentals remain historically tight. Metro-wide retail vacancy stood at approximately 4.4% in the third quarter of 2026, with average asking rents near $1.77 per square foot per month. Retail space under construction totaled approximately 2.55 million square feet, down nearly 20% year over year, limiting the pipeline of new competing inventory. The average Phoenix retail capitalization rate was approximately 6.3% in the third quarter, down from 7.1% a year earlier, reflecting stronger investor demand for retail assets.
Separate market surveys from earlier in 2026 reported vacancy in the 4.7% to 5.0% range, with annual asking-rent growth of approximately 4.5% and net absorption of roughly 941,000 square feet in the second quarter. Investment activity in the Phoenix retail sector totaled approximately $616 million from the first through second quarters of 2026, indicating continued transaction liquidity for well-located assets.
Necessity- and convenience-oriented retail has been a particular driver of low availability in the Phoenix market, with discount grocers and daily-needs retailers sustaining repeat-visit traffic that supports occupancy. That dynamic reinforces the strategic fit of a Walmart Supercenter-anchored asset in a dense, high-purchasing-power trade area.
About the Joint Venture Partners
CNSREIT is a perpetual-life, non-listed REIT focused on stabilized, income-producing properties in the United States. It is externally managed by Cohen & Steers Capital Management, Inc., a subsidiary of Cohen & Steers, Inc. Cohen & Steers is a global investment manager specializing in real assets and alternative income, including listed and private real estate, preferred securities, infrastructure and commodities. The firm was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.
Sterling Organization is a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, with offices across the country. The firm's national platform focuses on retail and distribution real estate across the risk spectrum in major U.S. markets. Sterling Organization manages more than $2 billion of assets under management and more than 13 million square feet of primarily retail real estate.