MIG Makes 1st Phoenix Industrial Purchase

Gateway Technology Commerce Center. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

MIG Real Estate has added the first fully industrial asset to its Phoenix-area portfolio with the purchase of Gateway Technology Commerce Center, a two-building, 138,700-square-foot property in Mesa. Phoenix-based Orsett Properties sold the Class A, 2019-completed asset for $21.4 million, with the assistance of Cushman & Wakefield.

Orsett developed the industrial park at 7535 E. Ray Road on a 9.7-acre site within an opportunity zone, CommercialEdge shows. The developer broke ground on the project in 2018, financing the construction with a $9 million loan from Zions Bank. The facilities feature dock-high and grade-level loading, 24- and 28-foot clear heights, a 180-foot truck court and ESFR sprinklers.

The property is roughly 16 miles southeast of downtown Mesa, just south of Loop 202, a location providing easy access to the entire metro Phoenix freeway network. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is less than 3 miles south.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Steve Lindley, Eric Wichterman and Will Strong represented the seller in the deal, while Ken McQueen and Chris McClurg of Lee & Associates provided leasing advisory. Strong, McQueen and McClurg also took part in the recent disposition of a 135,745-square-foot light industrial building in Gilbert, Ariz.

Poised for growth

Gateway Technology Commerce Park was 90.3 percent leased at the time of sale. The vacancy rate is higher than the average 7.6 percent for industrial assets in the East Mesa submarket and the average 7.8 percent across the metro, according to a Cushman & Wakefield recent report.

In terms of leasing, the fast-growing East Mesa also had an average direct asking rate of $0.77 per square foot per month in the fourth quarter of 2020, while the direct monthly asking rate in the Phoenix metro industrial market averaged $0.65 per square foot. That marks a 10.1 percent uptick year-over-year, more than double the national average.

The purchase marks MIG’s second commercial real estate acquisition in Greater Phoenix in the past two years, according to CommercialEdge data, the first being Arizona Corporate Plaza, a 124,100-square-foot office property in Chandler, Ariz. MIG had acquired the 11-building asset in 2019 for $16 million, with Zions Bank providing the buyer with $10.4 million for the purchase.