Fifth and last in a series.
Trying to track down the Tucson real estate dealings of reclusive mall developer Joseph K. Kivel is no easy task.
Kivel has bought and sold Tucson properties for almost 50 years under his own name and various corporate names. Also, he is reluctant to discuss his investments.
Still, major interests in El Con Mall and Park Mall are clearly his biggest holdings. Real estate developer Roy Drachman, a former president of the International Council of Shopping Centers, says those properties represent the bulk of Kivel's estimated net worth of at least $15 million to $20 million.
Kivel says that even the $15 million figure "is grossly inaccurate. When you take out all the mortgages and get down to the bottom line, I don't have a fraction of that."
The developer concedes that the mortgages on El Con and Park Mall are at low interest rates from earlier times and says he now earns more from his 100 percent interest in Park Mall than from his 33 percent interest in the lucrative El Con, but declines to provide further specifics about his finances.
The following is a partial list of Kivel's holdings with his wife, Esther:
• El Con Mall, 33 percent interest in 1.3 million square feet of retail space on about 80 acres.
• El Con Bar in El Con Mall, 50 percent interest.
• El Conquistador Estates, part interest in nine undeveloped lots adjoining and north of El Con Mall and covering about 2.7 acres.
• About 7.5 acres at the southeast corner of East Broadway and Craycroft Road, including 29,500 square feet of commercial space leased primarily to Food Giant, 50 percent interest.
• Park Mall, 100 percent interest in 39 acres and more than 400,000 square feet of commercial space including the site of Diamonds but not including Sears and Broadway Southwest.
• Sports World; a hot dog stand; and Spaceport, a video arcade all in Park Mall, 100 percent interest.
• About 18 undeveloped acres east of Sears and south of O'Rielly Chevrolet, 100 percent interest.
• 6015 E. Broadway across from Park Mall, including 4,300 square feet leased to the Arizona Academy of Beauty on a 9.3 acre lot, 50 percent interest.
• 7321 E. Broadway, 2,260 square feet leased to North China Restaurant on a lot covering 11,000 square feet, 100 percent interest.
• About 5.8 acres of undeveloped parcels bordering North Kolb Road and 430 feet from East Tanque Verde Road in The Meadows condominium development, formerly Monte Catalina Estates, 100 percent interest .
• 1600, 1610, 1622, 1626, 1636, 1660, 1736, 1740 and 1838 E. Factory Ave., 100 percent interest.
• 67 E. Congress St., 3,285 square feet of empty commercial space, 100 percent interest.
The Factory Avenue property was bought from Jim and Gladys Hays. Jim Hays was executive director of El Con from 196ti to 1968 and sold the land for about $13,000 a parcel. Hays now works at Park Mall as its general manager under a long-term contract.
Kivel's most recent acquisition was at an estate sale. He bought 3.77 acres across the street from Tucson Mall. In a dramatic bidding contest with Jack Redmond and Emmett McLoughlin of Tucson Realty & Trust Co., Kivel kept the pressure on until they could no longer match his bid of slightly more than $1 million.
Kivel declined to say if he has any plans for the land.
