Founders Properties Pays $30M for Phoenix Asset

Founders Properties has purchased 21st Street Center, a 162,232-square-foot property in Tempe, Ariz. Clarion Partners sold the asset for $30 million, according to public records. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. provided a $15 million acquisition loan, the same source show.

Cushman & Wakefield brokered the transaction, representing both seller and buyer. At the time of the sale, 21st Street Center was 100 percent leased to three tenants.

Clarion Partners had purchased the property from Crow Holdings back in 2002, CommercialEdge data shows. The sale was part of a $1.6 billion portfolio transaction in which Clarion acquired 287 properties throughout the U.S., the vast majority of them industrial.

Completed in 1996, 21st Street Center comprises two buildings spread on some 8 acres. The property features 26-foot clear heights, climate control, insulated ceilings, sky lights and 142 car parking spaces.

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Cushman & Wakefield Executive Vice Chair Will Strong, Director Michael Matchett and Senior Associate Molly Hunt from the company’s National Industrial Advisory Group, Mountain West, worked on behalf of the seller and buyer. The team of Executive Vice Chair Rob Rubano, Executive Managing Director Brian Share, Director Max Schafer and Analyst Becca Tse from the Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team placed the acquisition loan.

Phoenix industrial sector continues to thrive

Located at 455 and 465 West 21st Street, the industrial center is in Phoenix’s Airport submarket. The property is near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and at the confluence of Interstate 10, Loop 202 and U.S. Route 60.

Phoenix recorded the third-largest transaction volume in the West as of April, with investors closing $617 million in sales at an average of $159 per square foot, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. Phoenix is leading the nation in terms of industrial development, as the metro had 41.8 million square feet of space under construction as of April, representing 10.8 percent of existing stock.

In joint venture with Creation, Clarion Partners recently broke ground on the first phase of Park Algodon, a $250 million industrial and mixed-use campus in Phoenix. Upon completion, the two-phase project will comprise some 1.3 million square feet.