TA Realty Buys New Industrial Complex Near Phoenix for $76M

TA Realty has picked up a new 400,000-square-foot industrial park outside Phoenix for $75.6 million.

The Boston-based investor paid cash for the four-building campus known as Chandler Airpark 202 at 1700 East Northrop Boulevard, in Chandler, about 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

The seller was Chandler IRE Owner, a limited liability company affiliated with Los Angeles-based Ares Management, which built the park last year with St. Louis-based US Capital Development.

Brokers Will Strong, Michael Matchett and Molly Hunt of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller. The deal, among the largest industrial sales in greater Phoenix this year, works out to $189 per square foot.

“Chandler Airpark 202 is truly a trophy asset, featuring a strong industrial tenant base and offering a prime opportunity to lease up the remaining vacancy at competitive rents,” Hunt said in a statement. “The leasing momentum in this growing submarket, along with the demand for high-quality buildings, make it an ideal investment.”

Chandler Airpark 202 comprises four buildings, three of them leased to two tenants, MEI Rigging and Crating and Wedgewood Pharmacy. Terms of the leases were not disclosed.

The largest building, a 171,900-square-foot warehouse, is available for lease for an undisclosed price.

Brokers Andy Markham, Mike Haenel and Phil Haenel of Cushman & Wakefield negotiated the leases before the sale and have been retained by TA Realty to lease the park.

There were two completed industrial deals around Phoenix this year to fetch a higher price: a sale by Artis Real Estate Investment Trust of multiple buildings in Gilbert for $106.3 million; and the purchase by BlackRock Realty Advisors of a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse leased to Amazon.com for $128.1 million.

Greater Phoenix ranks second behind Dallas out of 20 U.S. cities for distribution and warehouse markets based on its construction pipeline, growth rate, costs and number of airports, according to the Business Journal.

Phoenix has the eighth largest warehouse inventory in the U.S.; it grew by 44 percent with an additional 60 million square feet in the past five years. The region also led the nation for warehouse construction, with 18.9 million square feet last month, according to CommercialSearch.

TA Realty, founded in 1982, has $18.3 billion in assets under management in 30 major U.S. markets, ranging from industrial to multifamily, retail, office and data centers, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew