EQT Exeter Buys Industrial Portfolio in Phoenix for $151M

EQT Exeter has spent $151 million for six industrial properties across greater Phoenix.

The Pennsylvania-based investor paid cash for the 822,400 square feet of industrial buildings in Mesa, Tempe and Gilbert, the Phoenix Business Journal reported. The seller was Artis Real Estate Investment Trust, based in Winnipeg, Canada.

The purchase was part of a larger, $197.4 million deal that included three properties in the Twin Cities, Minnesota totaling 317,600 square feet.

The Phoenix market acquisition works out to $184 per square foot. When factoring in the Midwest properties, the 1.14 million-square-foot purchase works out to $173 per square foot.

The Arizona buildings had nearly $60 million in mortgage debt at the time of the sale, according to an announcement by Artis REIT.

The EQT Exeter purchases include the 80,000-square-foot Superstition Springs Commerce Center, built in 1996 at 1250 and 1350 South Clearview Avenue, in Mesa. The deal for the center came in two transactions for $9.1 million and $4.9 million.

EQT bought the 160,700-square-foot Roosevelt Commons, built in 1986 at 2611, 2625 and 2631 South Roosevelt Street and 530 West Alameda Drive, in Tempe, for $31.4 million.

The firm also bought the 581,900-square-foot Park Lucero, built from 2015 onwards at 220, 250, 280, 300, 330 and 340 East Germann Road, in Gilbert. The purchase included four transactions of $42 million, $22.7 million, $25.6 million and $16 million.

This year, industrial sales across greater Phoenix have totaled $1.3 billion, a 22.5 percent increase compared to the first half of last year, according to Colliers.

From April through June, sales of industrial properties in the region were $843 million, a 45 percent jump from the same period last year and the highest sales of the past six quarters.

EQT Exeter, founded in 2006 by Ward Fitzgerald as Exeter Property Group, has 50 global offices behind 1,800 real estate purchases of warehouses, offices, life science facilities and apartments, with more than $30 billion in assets under management, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew