Exeter Buys Prologis Warehouse

Confident in Phoenix's industrial rebound, Pennsylvania-based Exeter Property Group has picked up the 251k SF Prologis Riverside Distribution Center at 2225 S 43rd Ave for $13.2M. Cassidy Turley's Andy Markham (here with son Will) brokered the deal with colleagues Mike Haenel and Will Strong. He tells us the facility is mainly home to Olympic Moving and Storage. (Should it ever leave, it probably knows a good mover.) He says Exeter was not only attracted to the in-place rent, but also that it has 160k SF of vacancy, which will provide some upside.

The buy comes at a time when capital is quite hungry for Phoenix-area industrial. That's despite the fact that fundamentals are slowly coming back. (CBRE reports metro industrial vacancies at 13.8%, relatively unchanged since the end of 2013.) Capital likes Phoenix because of its proximity to the Inland Empire and its low land costs. “Overall, the economy is getting healthy, so industrial should follow right along behind it,” Andy says.

Andy can also be found marketing Wentworth Property Co's 1.3M SF distribution center (above) at the corner of 59th and Van Buren that it plans to develop in a JV with Crow Holdings. He tells us the developers are soon breaking ground on the facility, and that it will be built on spec. He was also recently tapped by Blackstone to help sell 10397 W Van Buren, a 278k SF warehouse in Tolleson being vacated by Quaker/Pepsi. (Don't forget your hat, Man on the Oatmeal Container.) He's also selling the 303k SF former TJMaxx warehouse at 9704 W Roosevelt for Industrial Income Trust.