Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced today the sale of a 60,437-square-foot life sciences and advanced manufacturing facility in Marana, Arizona. The asset is subject to a 10-year, triple-net lease with options held by Roche Molecular Systems. The sales price was $19 million, which equates to $314.38 per square foot .

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“The facility is a build to suit for the tenant, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Roche Group, a Swiss pharmaceutical conglomerate that reported 2020 annual revenues of over $62 billion,” said Peter Bauman, IPA senior director. “Prior to occupancy, Roche invested more than $12 million in the facility as part of the company’s $44 million in reinvestment across all of its Tucson-area assets.” Bauman and IPA’s Tivon Moffitt, in conjunction with Marcus & Millichap’s Mark Ruble and Chris Lind represented the seller, VM Building Two Corporation. The CBRE debt team of Bruce Francis, Shaun Moothart, Bob Ybarra, Doug Birrell, Anna Britt, James Korinek, Carly Grabher, and Ryan Gagliano secured debt for the buyer. “The building will be used for cancer testing device manufacturing by Roche’s diagnostic division, which annually impacts more than 27 million people worldwide,” commented Moffitt. “In 2020, the firm’s diagnostic division reported revenue of $15 billion, a 14% increase from 2019.”

Located adjacent to Roche’s logistics and distribution facility off Interstate 10, the property is 18 miles north of Downtown Tucson. Southwest Gas purchased 25 acres nearby for its new regional headquarters and further east, transportation company CTI Inc. bought a 20-acre site for its Tucson-area headquarters. A 1-million-square-foot industrial park is in the planning stages directly across the street and an adjacent master-planned residential community, 4,500-home Gladden Farms, is nearly complete.

“This sale represents one of the highest prices per square foot for an industrial asset in the Tucson market and further demonstrates the importance of Arizona as a distribution and manufacturing hub,” added Moffitt. “This project was a great collaboration and team effort for all involved,” concluded Bauman. “We wish the buyer much success with the asset.”