Clarius Partners JV Lands Full-Building Lease in Metro Phoenix

GTI Fabrication, a Buffalo, N.Y.,-based provider of turnkey integrated closure solutions, is expanding its energy storage business in the Phoenix industrial market with the full-building lease of a 530,307-square-foot facility at Lakin Park in Goodyear, Ariz.

GTI will use the recently completed building at 17505 W. MC 85 in the 400-acre master-planned logistics campus for light manufacturing and battery casings assembly.

The company, which operates under GTI Energy in Phoenix, already leases 80,000 square feet at 3380 W. Durango St. in Phoenix. That facility, which opened in May 2023, is dedicated to advancing electrical/mechanical assembly, battery installation and rigorous testing for Battery Energy Storage Systems units, according to the GTI LinkedIn page.

A Cushman & Wakefield team represented both the landlord and the tenant in the six-year leasing deal. The team included Executive Vice Chairs Andy Markham and Mike Haenel, Vice Chair Phil Haenel, Director Foster Bundy, Associates Katie Repine and Justin Smith and Brokerage Coordinator Jordan Sims.

GTI chose the Lakin Park building because of its existing power and air conditioning, office space, immediate availability and proximity to the West Coast, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.

Property highlights

The Lakin Park facility is located on a 35.5-acre lot. The cross-dock building has 40-foot clear height, 88 dock high doors, four drive-in doors, 70-foot speed bays, 119 trailer stalls, 380 car stalls, and 200-foot concrete courts. The developers received a $34.6 million three-year construction loan from Old National Bank in November 2022, according to CommercialEdge data.

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Lakin Park, located at Cotton Lane and MC 85, is being developed by Clarius Partners and Walton Street Capital. The industrial park, which will have 4.5 million square feet of space when built out, is 3 miles south of Interstate 10. It will also have frontage and access to the future Loop 303 and State Route 30.

Building 1B is the second asset completed at Lakin Park. The 730,000-square-foot Building 1A was leased by Qurate Retail Inc. in 2022, the business journal reported. The developers sold 1A, located at 17315 W. MC 85, in August 2022 to BentallGreenOak, the real estate arm of Sun Life Financial, for $109.2 million.

Clean energy growth

Clean energy and climate technology solutions companies are growing in the Phoenix region, including Kore Power, which is constructing a $1.25 billion battery plant in Buckeye, Ariz., and LG Energy Solution, which is building a $5.5 billion battery manufacturing complex in Queen Creek, Ariz. The LGES project includes two separate manufacturing facilities—one for cylindrical batteries for electric vehicles and another for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pouch-type batteries for energy storage systems (ESS). The EV facility is slated for completion in late 2025 and the LFP facility is expected to be finished the following year.

LGES is one of GTI Energy’s clients, along with Confluence Energy and Honeywell International Inc., according to the business journal.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act is credited with spurring more than $10.6 billion in clean energy investments in Arizona and creating more than 14,100 new clean energy jobs.