Bond Package OK Leads To 20-Acre Closing

MESA, AZ-Park Corp. makes its second buy in two months, paying $5.1 million for a 20-acre parcel near a proposed terminal at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The closing was facilitated with help from passage of a $169 million bond package by voters on November 4.

As a result of the bond’s approval, “roads will be built in front of the site in about a year,” comments Brent Moser, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC’s Phoenix office. Moser, who teamed with Grubb & Ellis senior vice president Brian T. Heintzelman and senior associate Michael D Sutton on behalf of the seller MLBB LLC, a Phoenix private partnership, adds that the bond also covers other road and infrastructure improvements in Mesa.

The Cleveland buyer also needs to finalize zoning on the acreage, which is at the intersection of Ray and Hawes Roads. Moser tells GlobeSt.com that horizontal development will commence and Park Corp. will start selling pads beginning in 2010. “We think the ideal end users will be strip retail centers, hotels and class A office,” Moser says. “This will really play off the airport terminal.” The terminal in question is still on the drawing board. Its construction will depend on whether the airport can land one more carrier, Moser says.

The land buy follows up Park Corp.’s September closing on a 30-acre parcel in First Mesa Commerce Park. “With these two acquisitions, I think they’ll be on the sidelines for the next six months,” Moser says. He says the company already has substantial commercial holdings in the area. “They’re making kind of a strategic shift in this down market to Phoenix,” he adds.