Executive Summary
Data center demand is repricing infill land and raising entitlement risk. GI Partners paid about $2.71 million per acre ($62.24 per land SF) for a 5.43-acre data center site south of downtown Phoenix, nearly 4.7 times the seller's 2012 basis. At the same time, Peoria is drafting tighter data center rules, Glendale is weighing annexation of a 160-acre data center and gas turbine campus, and Pinal County continued a 500 MW energy project, so sites with power capacity and entitlements already in hand are commanding a clear premium.
Institutional and private capital is paying up for industrial and net-lease income. Blue Owl Capital ($96.74 per SF) and J.P. Morgan Asset Management ($190.73 per SF) closed a combined $132.7 million in West Valley and I-10 corridor industrial acquisitions, while bulk warehouse vacancy hit a cycle low of 5.8%. On the retail side, new drive-thru Shake Shack and Starbucks assets traded at $1,083 and $901 per SF, showing 1031 buyers are still accepting compressed yields for long-term corporate NNN leases.
Office owners are repositioning while corporate occupiers keep committing. A $44.5 million loan will convert the former Freeport-McMoRan tower downtown to multi-tenant use, and Salt River Devco is seeking to convert four vacant office buildings to small-bay industrial. Meanwhile, Avnet (156,000 SF) and Castle Biosciences (55,000 SF) opened new facilities, and metro office sales reached $929 million through August at an average of $202 per SF.
Land
Phoenix Data Center Project Moves Ahead After Site Secured for $14.7M - Phoenix Business Journal (September 22, 2026)
GI Partners acquired 5.43 acres at the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and Grant Street from Scottsdale-based LKY Development after the city allowed data center use despite its newer zoning rules. The seller paid $3.15 million ($580,110 per acre) for the site in 2012. The pricing shows the premium that power-intensive entitlement potential creates for small central Phoenix parcels.
Sale price: $14,720,919 (closed September 17, 2026)
Price per acre: approximately $2,711,035
Price per land SF: approximately $62.24
Industrial Activity Ramps Up in Mesa; Plus 6 Other Valley Real Estate Deals to Know - Phoenix Business Journal (September 22, 2026)
An LLC tied to MGC Pure Chemicals America, a Mitsubishi Gas Chemical subsidiary that supplies TSMC and other chipmakers, bought 25 acres of industrial land near Signal Butte and Pecos roads in southeast Mesa from an affiliate of Trammell Crow Company. The deal adds to semiconductor supplier demand for industrial land near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
Sale price: $15,000,000 for 25 acres (closed August 31, 2026)
Price per acre: $600,000
Price per land SF: approximately $13.77
Data Center Public Comments Lead Into Glendale Planning Meeting - Your Valley (September 22, 2026)
The Glendale City Council held its blank-petition public hearing on annexing the 160-acre Project Baccara site north of Olive Avenue, about half a mile west of Litchfield Road and north of Luke Air Force Base. The proposal pairs data center buildings with on-site natural gas generation, another example of data center demand colliding with more active West Valley land-use policy.
Program: three data center buildings (approximately 1.1 million SF) and 18 natural gas turbines (approximately 700 MW)
Timeline: Planning Commission zoning hearing September 24; annexation vote scheduled for October 27, 2026
Peoria Considers Tighter Data Center Restrictions - AZBEX (September 23, 2026)
The Peoria City Council directed staff to draft code amendments that would replace by-right data center allowances with special use permits, larger setbacks, third-party noise studies and screening requirements. The focus is on protecting the Peoria Innovation Core and Legacy Point master-planned areas, and the changes will go to city commissions before a final council vote. The shift adds entitlement time and cost for industrial land targeted at data center users.
Pinal County Blocks Path for 500-Megawatt Energy Project Near Maricopa - Phoenix Business Journal via ABC15 Arizona (September 18, 2026)
The Pinal County Planning & Zoning Commission voted to postpone a set of requests from Horseshoe BESS LLC, a subsidiary of Epic Star Energy, for a planned battery storage system and natural gas plant, though a motion to deny a key amendment narrowly failed on a 5-4 vote. The requests would rezone the property from single-family residential to industrial and change its comprehensive plan designation from residential to employment. The outcome will signal how receptive Pinal County is to converting residentially planned land to energy and industrial use. ABC15 ArizonaInMaricopa
Capacity: 500 MW
Site: approximately 159 acres near Table Top and Fulcar roads, about 10 miles southwest of Maricopa in the unincorporated Hidden Valley area InMaricopaABC15 Arizona
Multifamily
NFL Owners Seek Zoning for 504 Apartments in Desert Ridge - Phoenix Business Journal (September 18, 2026)
Garden Communities, the Wilf family platform (owners of the Minnesota Vikings), is seeking zoning for a 504-unit luxury community at 5150 E. Deer Valley Drive, between Desert Ridge Marketplace and the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge. The site is one of the largest remaining infill opportunities in the Desert Ridge core, and the project would sit next to the group’s 378-unit Elysium community. The Real Deal’s follow-up notes the metro’s apartment pipeline is shrinking, which could support lease-up for well-located new product.
Program: 504 units on 41 acres (approximately 12.3 units per acre)
2022 land basis: $44.1 million (approximately $1,075,610 per acre; $24.69 per land SF; $87,500 per unit)
Metro supply: roughly 14,000 units delivering in 2026 (versus 22,000+ in 2024 to 2025); 23,000 under construction (27% below a year ago)
Phoenix Build-to-Rent Per-Unit Prices Push Higher Despite Uncertainty - Q2 2026 BTR Market Report (September 23, 2026)
Northmarq reports that BTR deliveries dropped sharply in the first half of 2026 while per-unit values kept climbing. Recent supply waves in Queen Creek and San Tan Valley have largely been absorbed, but Buckeye still carries a comparatively large pipeline that could constrain near-term rent growth there.
Median BTR sale price: approximately $430,000 per unit
Deliveries: more than 5,000 units annually from 2023 to 2025, versus fewer than 1,400 in H1 2026
Industrial
Industrial Activity Ramps Up in Mesa; Plus 6 Other Valley Real Estate Deals to Know - Phoenix Business Journal (September 22, 2026)
Blue Owl Capital bought the 881,513 SF Albertsons distribution center at 99th Avenue and Van Buren in Tolleson from BrightSpire Capital, which paid $83,021,252 ($94.18 per SF) in 2018. J.P. Morgan Asset Management acquired a three-building, 248,896 SF industrial property near I-10 and 75th Avenue from Forms+Surfaces. The roundup also notes the opening of the 166,376 SF Jackson Street Self Storage east of Chase Field.
Blue Owl sale price: $85,273,973 (approximately $96.74 per SF; approximately 85 acres)
J.P. Morgan sale price: $47,470,962 (approximately $190.73 per SF)
Metro Phoenix Bulk Warehouse Vacancy Falls to Cycle Low - AZBEX (September 23, 2026)
Cushman & Wakefield’s latest report on buildings of 300,000 SF and larger shows bulk vacancy has fallen from a 32.5% peak in Q3 2022 to a cycle low. With deliveries nearly halted and demand far exceeding available options, the data points to renewed pricing power for landlords and a case for new bulk starts on entitled land.
Bulk vacancy: 5.8%; overall industrial vacancy: 12.5% in Q2 2026 (down from 16.9% in Q3 2025)
Demand: 34 tenants seeking 21.5 million SF versus 10 existing options totaling 4.1 million SF
Pipeline: 11.1 million SF under construction, approximately 78% pre-leased
Seefried Industrial Properties and WDP Partners Break Ground on 269,100-Square-Foot Industrial Park in Chandler - Real Estate Daily News (September 23, 2026)
The joint venture broke ground on a two-building Class A project at 1703 S. Arizona Ave. in the Chandler Airpark submarket, with CBRE handling leasing and ARCO as general contractor. Heavy parking ratios target light manufacturing and assembly users serving the Southeast Valley semiconductor supply chain.
Program: 269,100 SF on 16.7 acres (Building A: 69,300 SF; Building B: 199,800 SF)
Specs: 32-foot clear, 65 dock-high doors, 204 auto and 56 trailer stalls
Completion: Q3 2027
Developer Seeks Rezoning for Chaparral Business Center Amid Weak Office Demand - Phoenix Business Journal (September 23, 2026)
Salt River Devco is seeking a Planned Development Overlay (Case 26-ZN-03) to convert four office buildings along Loop 101 on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community into small-bay industrial space. It is one of the larger office-to-industrial adaptive reuse plays announced this year and reflects a change in highest-and-best use driven by relative demand. The first phase could begin in about a year.
Setting: four buildings within the 70-acre Chaparral Business Center
Freeberg Industrial Fabrication Opens Eloy Manufacturing Facility - Arizona Commerce Authority (September 17, 2026)
Sheet-metal manufacturer Freeberg opened a new plant in Eloy that more than doubles its total footprint. The opening adds to manufacturing absorption along the I-10 corridor in Pinal County.
Facility: 160,000 SF
Jobs: up to 200 at full scale
Retail
Shake Shack Drive-Thru at 99th Avenue and McDowell Sells for $3.9 Million - Real Estate Daily News (September 24, 2026)
Thompson Thrift sold a 2025-built Shake Shack with the brand’s rare drive-thru prototype to a private investor, with Phoenix Commercial Advisors representing the seller. The pad is outparceled to a Sprouts-anchored center near I-10 and Loop 101, and the pricing reflects strong 1031 demand for new corporate NNN assets in the West Valley.
Sale price: $3,900,000 for 3,600 SF
Price per SF: approximately $1,083.33
Lease: new 15-year absolute NNN
Newly Remodeled Single-Tenant Starbucks in Ahwatukee Sells for $4.13 Million - Real Estate Daily News (September 23, 2026)
A former 2003 bank building at 15615 S. Desert Foothills Parkway, remodeled in 2025 into Starbucks’ newest prototype with double drive-thru lanes, sold to a Los Angeles County 1031 buyer. Hanley Investment Real Estate Advisors represented the sellers. The site is the only Starbucks drive-thru within 4.5 miles, with average household income of about $206,000 within one mile.
Sale price: $4,130,000 for 4,586 SF on 1.25 acres
Price per SF: approximately $900.57
Lease: new 10-year corporate-guaranteed NNN
ZRP Acquires 10,546-Square-Foot Retail Property in Phoenix for $3.4 Million - Shopping Center Business (September 23, 2026)
Ziff Real Estate Partners bought Sheridan Square, a 1965-built plaza at 7th Street and Sheridan in the Coronado District that was modernized in 2021. The value-add play targets lease-up of remaining vacancy and mark-to-market rollover in a walkable, gentrifying infill neighborhood.
Sale price: $3,400,000 for 10,546 SF
Price per SF: approximately $322.40
Occupancy: 80% leased at closing
Kimco JV Lands $155M Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Refi - Commercial Property Executive (September 18, 2026)
Kimco Realty and an institutional partner refinanced a six-property grocery-anchored portfolio in California, Arizona and Georgia with a loan from investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, arranged by JLL Capital Markets. The Arizona asset is The Summit at Scottsdale, 32351 N. Scottsdale Rd., anchored by Safeway and shadow-anchored by Target. The deal shows lenders remain comfortable with stabilized grocery-anchored retail.
Loan: $154,500,000 on 1.3 million SF (approximately $118.85 per SF loan basis)
Portfolio: 99% occupied with a 4.6-year WALT; Summit at Scottsdale is 190,611 SF
Target Replaces Harkins Theatres as Anchor at Laveen Retail Project - Phoenix Business Journal (September 17, 2026)
Target will anchor the western half of Kitchell Development’s Laveen Park Place near Loop 202 and Baseline Road after Harkins dropped its theater plans. The swap moves the project from entertainment-led traffic to a high-frequency general merchandise anchor, joining existing tenants Sprouts, T.J. Maxx and Michaels.
Store: approximately 140,395 SF
Site: approximately 16 acres
Chandler Fashion Center Expanding Dining Lineup with La Popular Cocina Mexicana - KTAR News (September 21, 2026)
La Popular Cocina Mexicana will open its first Arizona restaurant as part of Macerich’s ongoing Chandler Fashion Center redevelopment, joining Din Tai Fung and Wagyu House. The lease reflects regional malls using restaurants and experiential uses as redevelopment anchors.
Opening: expected at the mall in fall 2027 KTAR.com
Office | Healthcare
Downtown Phoenix Office Tower Secures $44.5 Million Renovation Loan - Real Estate Daily News (September 21, 2026)
Formation 8 closed a loan from Hilco Global, an ORIX Corporation USA subsidiary, to reposition the former Freeport-McMoRan office portion of 333 N. Central Ave. for multi-tenant use, with Newmark leading leasing. Proceeds replace an $18 million acquisition loan and fund tenant improvements, leasing commissions and amenities, and the Freeport-McMoRan crown signage will come down, creating a branding opportunity for a future anchor. The deal shows specialty lenders will fund legacy office when the sponsor has a clear repositioning plan.
Loan: $44,500,000 on approximately 250,000 SF (approximately $178 per SF loan basis)
Excluded: the 242-room Westin Phoenix Downtown in the lower portion of the property
Phoenix Office Market Shows Resilience as Employment Grows - AZ Big Media (September 21, 2026)
Phoenix office vacancy stayed below the national average in August, and investment sales are approaching $1 billion for the year. Developers remain cautious, with approximately 400,000 square feet under construction in Phoenix in August, a fraction of the more than 32 million square feet underway nationally, which limits new competition for existing buildings. AZ Big Media
Vacancy: 17.2% in August (national: 17.8%), unchanged from a year earlier AZ Big Media
Asking rent: $29.78 per SF, up 1.7% year over year AZ Big Media
Sales volume: $929 million through August at an average of $202 per SF
Avnet Moves Global Headquarters to Tempe - Phoenix Business Journal (September 22, 2026)
Electronics distributor Avnet moved its global headquarters into a building at ASU Research Park formerly used by GoDaddy. The move puts a large existing corporate building back into full headquarters use without adding speculative inventory.
Space: approximately 156,000 SF
Global Real Estate Partnership Enters Phoenix Market with Surgery Center Acquisition - Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine (September 21, 2026)
Lincoln Property Company and PGIM closed their first joint acquisition in metro Phoenix, buying the Surgery Center of Gilbert at 6003 E. Baseline Road in Mesa. The single-tenant, Banner Health-affiliated facility is on a long-term lease, a sign of institutional capital moving into East Valley medical outpatient real estate.
Property: 13,957 SF ambulatory surgery center on 1.77 acres (5 operating rooms)
Sale price: not disclosed
Bioscience Firm Opens 55K-SF Scottsdale Lab to Support Continued Growth - Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine (September 23, 2026)
Castle Biosciences opened a new lab and office facility at 8667 E. Hartford Drive in Scottsdale’s 260-acre Perimeter Center business park. The project, with fully redundant power and upgraded building systems, adds to life sciences demand in the Northeast Valley.
Space: 55,000 SF
Headcount: approximately 220 metro Phoenix employees
Mixed-Use
Monte Verde in Buckeye Could See Expanded Residential & Commercial Uses - AZBEX (September 18, 2026)
The Buckeye Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended a Community Master Plan amendment for Sunbelt Investment Holdings on 156 acres west of Miller Road between Warner Street and Lower Buckeye Road. The amendment would roughly double residential capacity and expand commercial acreage on vacant agricultural land near I-10, another example of large ag holdings being converted into denser, flexible master plans. The City Council may take it up in October.
Residential: up to 862 single-family and multifamily units (versus 433 single-family homes today), approximately 5.5 units per acre
Commercial: 51.2-acre commercial parcel (versus approximately 15.1 acres today)
Sprouts Anchors National Growth with New Headquarters and Flagship Store in Phoenix - Greater Phoenix In Business Magazine (September 21, 2026)
Wespac Construction completed Sprouts Farmers Market’s corporate campus at 20555 N. 55th St. in CityNorth, developed with Trammell Crow Company. The project combines corporate office, a flagship grocery store, retail and structured parking, strengthening the Loop 101 corridor as a headquarters location.
Total: 186,000 SF (145,000 SF headquarters; 25,000 SF flagship store; 11,000 SF retail and restaurant)
What This All Means for You
As Phoenix land brokers and Arizona land brokers, we connect with landowners, developers, homebuilders and institutional capital across the Phoenix Metro every single day. Whether you are recalibrating land basis in the far West Valley or Pinal County, buying or selling commercial land in Maricopa County, underwriting a stabilized multifamily or power-heavy industrial acquisition, or working through entitlement, water and power questions on a master-planned, data center or mixed-use site, our Colliers Phoenix land brokerage team is available for confidential conversations about how the activity in this brief may affect your business and your pipeline.
Common questions we help answer: What is my land worth today? How do recent data center denials and annexations change my entitlement timeline and risk premium? Should I sell entitled dirt to a homebuilder or carry it through horizontal construction? What are current comparable sales for industrial land, multifamily sites, retail pads and hotel parcels across Maricopa and Pinal counties?
If you are looking for experienced Phoenix land brokers or Arizona land brokers who know Maricopa County and Pinal County dirt, reach out to start the conversation.
Until Next Time,
Ramey Peru & John Finnegan
Senior Vice Presidents | Land
ramey.peru@colliers.com | john.finnegan@colliers.com
(602) 228-3638 | (602) 405-5212
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