Buyer Lew Cook used the Southeast Valley acquisition at 952 and 955 E. Baseline Rd. to satisfy 1031 exchange requirements on a ranch sale. Tracy Cartledge, managing director with Insignia/ESG's Phoenix office, tells GlobeSt.com that "trade money is what is driving the industrial market in Phoenix right now." He and Insignia/ESG directors Bob Buckley and Steve Lindley represented the seller, Vancouver, BC-based Victoria Properties.

Cartledge says Victoria Properties, owner for the last eight years, sold the complex in a redeployment of capital. The seller still owns eight industrial properties, 12 office holdings and three retail centers in the metro area.

Cartledge says the business center was on the sales block for about nine months and brought a half dozen offers. The buildings were developed in 1986.

The fully occupied Paragon Business Center consists of a 48,912-sf structure at 952 E. Baseline and a 27,500-sf building at 955 E. Baseline. Tenants include Sears Roebuck & Co. and Diamond-Shamrock.

Paragon Business Center is located in an area that Cartledge says has evolved significantly in the last three years. The delivery of a large power center turned the southeast valley from a typical suburban area into a destination location.