TUCSON, ARIZONA — Rockefeller Group sold the Rockefeller Group Distribution Center – Phase I industrial building / distribution center at 6855-6751 S. Lisa Frank Ave. in Tucson, AZ for $10.125 million ($89 PSF) to Harsch Investment Properties, a Portland-based real estate investment, development and management company.

Formerly known as Rockefeller Distribution Center, the building is 79% leased by two tenants and is less than half a mile east of Harsch Investment Properties’ fully leased 130,000-square- foot Tucson Airport Center.

“This state of the art LEED Silver Industrial Park marks our third acquisition in the Tucson Airport sub market and is a strategic move for us in the area,” said Harsch Investment Properties Senior Vice President and San Diego Regional Manager Bill Rodewald. “The fact that we can accommodate our growing tenant base in the projects currently available vacancy is a key advantage as is the potential to develop the two parcels of land for significant future expansions and build to suits.”

The 113,546-square-foot building sits on 21.5 acres in Pima County. It features 40 loading docks and four drive-in bays in addition to 7,000-square-feet of built-out office space. Both tenants at Tucson Airport Distribution Center are among the state’s fastest growing businesses. Safelite AutoGlass is the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacements services and their Tucson warehouse allows them to provide same-day or next-day service to local customers in Arizona and New Mexico. OnTrac is a parcel logistics company with operations throughout the Western United States, arranging overnight delivery at ground rates to more than 60 million consumers.

The development/construction team won the coveted AZRE RED (Real Estate Development) 2010 Award for the Best Industrial Project in Arizona.  The team included The Rockefeller Group of Manhattan, New York, represented by Arizona regional director Mark Singerman; Chestnut Construction, 2127 E. Speedway, represented by Vice President Robert Sisley; and Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate, 1100 N. Wilmot Road, represented by President Mike Hammond.

The industrial building/distribution center is the Rockefeller Group’s first development project in Tucson. The structure’s envelope, lighting, heating/cooling system, reflective roof material, dual-glazed glass, and use of skylights and photo cells to control lighting all optimize the building’s energy efficiency.  Altogether, the green features resulted in a 40 percent energy use reduction compared to normal design standards.

Rick Engineering, 3945 E. Fort Lowell Road, also worked on the award-winning project.

Rob Glaser, SIOR, CCIM, of Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate Services in Tucson and Mike Adey, Jeff Chiate, Jeffrey Cole, Edward Hernandez and Nico Napolitano of Cushman & Wakefield in Irvine represented both the buyer and the seller in the sale.

Rob Glaser and Stephen Cohen of Cushman & Wakefield | Picor Commercial Real Estate Services in Tucson will continue to handle the leasing.

To learn more, see RED Comp #5174.

Oregon-based, Harsh Investment Property  (Jordan Schnitzer, president) purchased two multi-tenant industrial assets in Tucson recently. The Airport Center at 2801-2949 E Elvira Road, Butterfield Corporate Plaza at 3700-3716 E Columbia sold for an aggregate total of $16.4 million for the 187,000-square-foot portfolio sold by Holualoa Companies of Tucson.

The 130,000-square-feet at Tucson Airport Center sold for $9.925 million ($76 PSF). The research and industrial park is located one-half mile from Tucson International Airport.

The property in Butterfield Business Plaza at 3700-3716 E Columbia is 57,263-square-feet was 100% occupied and sold for $6.475 million ($113 PSF) in this bulk sale.

Both flex industrial parks are incubator spaces for research & development / office parks near Tucson International Airport offering convenient freeway access and nearby amenities such as hotels, dining and banking.

Bill Rodewald, Harsch Investment Properties southwest regional manager said, “The demographics are impressive not only from the standpoint of population growth but because the median age is so young and dynamic. The University of Arizona is a very big factor in this trend since more highly skilled graduates are now tending to stay in Tucson and create new companies. These trends should bode very well for the surrounding industrial markets that serve the Tucson and Southern Arizona markets.”

Harsh’s flex-industrial portfolio has grown by almost 2 million-square-feet in the past 12 months, and now exceeds 18-million-square-feet.

Bill Divito and Jesse Blum with CBRE in Tucson represented the seller in these transactions. “There are more industrial investors attracted to Tucson than we have properties for right now, with higher cap rates than found in other areas,” Jesse Blum said. “Cap rates have compressed in other areas while ramaining high in Tucson.”

The buyer represented itself in the transactions.

Divito and Blum will be handling leasing of the properties for the new owner. To learn more Divito should be reached at 520.321.3339 and Blume can be contacted at 520.321.3335.

For additional information see also RED Comp # 3336 and #3337.