With aggressive expansion plans in the Tucson market, a Portland, Ore.-based investment company recently made its third purchase of industrial property.
Harsch Investment Properties LLC bought a multi-tenant industrial property and 15.5 acres of industrial land for $10.1 million.
The sale consists of a 113,546-square-foot building at 6855 S. Lisa Frank Ave. and two vacant land parcels, 8.33 acres at 6860 S. Brosius Ave. and 6.7 acres at 6715 S. Lisa Frank Ave.
Harsch first entered the Tucson market about 18 months ago with the purchase of Butterfield Corporate Plaza at 3700 E. Columbia St. and the Tucson Airport Center at 2801 — 2949 E. Elvira Road. Both are fully leased.
Bill Rodewald, investment properties senior vice president and San Diego regional manager for Harsch, said the company is looking for more opportunities to acquire industrial space in Tucson.
“I hope I’m seeing everything that’s available and that brokers understand we are in a growth mode,” he said. “We don’t want to enter a market and be a minor player.”
Rodewald said the latest building purchased is 79 percent leased by Safelite AutoGlass and OnTrac and that the company is already in “good talks” with other tenants.
Plans for the vacant land could be spec industrial space.
“The land is already flat and has utilities,” Rodewald said. “We’ve been very successful in developing multi-tenant distribution parks and we’ve got a couple of prototypes that work well in markets like this.”
Since hitting the peak of 20 percent vacancy during the recession, the industrial market around the airport has dropped to 14 percent vacancy.
“The abundant supply of large and available space in the submarket will continue to attract manufacturing users,” CBRE’s Marketview report said. “Furthermore, as advanced manufacturing and aerospace and defense industries continue to expand in Tucson, demand for large spaces in the airport and southeast submarket will build, relieving vacancy in those areas.”
Heightened demand from e-commerce users for warehouse space will also encourage developers, the report said.
“This should place short-term pressure on developers to deliver speculative developments that meet the needs of these tenants.”
