Bluefin Seafood Bistro closing after 10-year run

Bluefin Seafood Bistro in Casas Adobes Plaza, at Ina and Oracle roads, will close in May after a decade of being in business there.

Owners Jeff Azersky and Jim Murphy, who also own Kingfisher Bar & Grill on East Grant Road, met with their staffers Saturday morning to announce the restaurant will close May 24, according to a news release.

Bluefin celebrated its 10th anniversary last month.

The owners released this letter explaining why they’re shutting the eatery:

“After 10 years we have decided to close Bluefin at Casas Adobes Plaza. Our lease term is ending and we could not come to an equitable deal on our lease renegotiation with the new center owners. It is unfortunate, but the last night of service at Bluefin Seafood Bistro will be on Sunday, May 24th, 2015.

“Thank you to our staff, many of whom have been with us for a long time, for helping make Bluefin the success that it is. Without you, Bluefin would not have been the great place to dine and work, that it was for the last 10 years. Also, thanks to our many loyal regular guests for dining with us. It always amazes us how many familiar faces we constantly see at our restaurants. This is the true testament to our work.”

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Last month Casas Adobes Plaza LLC and Casas Adobes Ventures sold the 91,318-square-foot property, which is also home to a Chipotle, Wildflower American Cuisine and a newly rebuilt Whole Foods Market, among more than 20 other tenants, for $46 million to Global Retail Investors of Bethesda, Maryland, according to Star news archives.

Global Retail Investors, or GRI, is a partnership of the Maryland-based First Washington Realty and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the United States.

Patrick Dempsey and Jan Fincham of Lee & Associates Arizona helped facilitate the deal. In late February Dempsey said GRI will continue to operate Casas Adobes as a retail space.

“The tenants define the property, and that is what attracted them to the investment,” Dempsey said at the time.

GRI also owns the River Center, a 117,000-square-foot shopping center at East River and North Craycroft roads, which it purchased in January 2014.