CRG, the national real estate development and investment firm, today announced plans to develop The Cubes at Mesa Gateway, which will bring up to 4 million square feet of speculative and build-to-suit space to a 268-acre site in Mesa. The Cubes at Mesa Gateway will be the largest master-planned, development-ready industrial park delivered in the Southeast Valley, which is expected to add over 120,000 residents by 2025.
“The Cubes at Mesa Gateway is in good company, joining a growing list of developments choosing to locate in Mesa,” said Mesa Mayor John Giles. “This is also a timely and exciting addition to the Gateway area and for the Southeast Valley, to help accommodate the growth and need for space for large users. We look forward to the groundbreaking!”
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Strategically located between E. Pecos Rd. and E. Germann Rd. in southeast Mesa, The Cubes at Mesa Gateway is five miles from the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and just south of the now under-construction AZ 24 freeway expansion, which will offer direct access to Loop 202 and the greater Phoenix area.
“The Cubes will be a tremendous addition to southeast Mesa and the region, providing more jobs and more business development opportunities in the fastest growing part of the east valley,” District 6 Councilmember Kevin Thompson said. “With its proximity to Gateway Airport and the nearby freeways, District 6 is the perfect location for a major project like this.”
JLL Managing Director Steve Larsen represented CRG in the land acquisition and will work alongside JLL Managing Director Pat Harlan and Senior Vice President Jason Moore to handle leasing for the project, which will offer multiple building and size configurations ranging from 250,000 square feet to 1.2 million square feet, with build-to-suit opportunities and options to buy improved lots.
“The Southeast Valley is booming, with strong gains in high-tech industrial sectors such as semiconductor, aerospace, electric vehicle, defense and data centers, but most of the area’s current industrial inventory caters to smaller users,” said Mark Sonnenberg, CRG senior vice president and partner, Southwest region. “The Cubes at Mesa Gateway will fill the need for a large, multi-phase, development-ready industrial park to satisfy these growing requirements.”
Catering to a wide range of users in bulk distribution, e-commerce fulfillment and specialized manufacturing, the development will be constructed by CRG’s parent company Clayco, with enterprise partner Lamar Johnson Collaborative as architect. Offsite infrastructure improvements to all four sides of the property will begin immediately and include road widening, installation of traffic signals and utility expansion. The first phase of vertical construction is slated to begin in second quarter 2022, with delivery of the first building expected to coincide with the completion of the AZ 24 expansion in the fourth quarter of 2022. The full site is expected to be completed in late 2024.
“Industrial projects in the Gateway submarket are growing larger and, in many cases, are being leased up before construction is even complete – an indicator of the area’s maturation as a strategic industrial location with great connectivity and a premier labor force,” said Larsen. “The Cubes at Mesa Gateway is a prime addition to that mix, delivering modern Class A space with a very desirable GI zoning, which opens the project up to a broad range of user interest.”
According to JLL research, tenant demand for metro Phoenix industrial space remains as strong as it has been during the pandemic, with more than 5 million square feet absorbed during the first half of 2021 alone. The Gateway area is one of the Valley’s bright new opportunity corridors, driven by e-commerce and manufacturing needs, and an abundance of available land.
CRG recently opened an office in Phoenix to spearhead investment in the booming Southwest, and announced its first industrial development project in the area, The Cubes at Glendale, in January. Including The Cubes at Mesa Gateway, CRG now has approximately 600 acres under development in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. With plans to strategically and rapidly grow its national footprint, the firm has broken ground on approximately 18 million square feet of The Cubes projects across the country since 2018, more than 10 million square feet of which has already been delivered. All of CRG’s The Cubes-branded facilities are located in regional logistics hubs with robust transit infrastructure, high workforce availability and large population bases.
“CRG’s vertically integrated platform brings together the development, engineering, architecture, construction, capital markets and legal expertise needed to successfully deliver development projects of this size,” said Shawn Clark, president of CRG. “And the Southeast Valley, with its robust mix of sophisticated industrial users and highly-skilled workforce, is a model location for The Cubes-branded master-planned industrial park to serve large-scale needs. It is a star addition to our portfolio.”
