The banking firm, with offices in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas, recently purchased two land parcels and leased a third for branch locations as part of its expansion strategy. "This is part of a broader expansion strategy in Dallas, Denver and Phoenix," Rick Murphy, with CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Phoenix office, tells GlobeSt.com. "They're adding branches in those locations and these fit in well with the growth in the Valley."

Murphy said Compass expects to add 10 Valley bank branches, ranging from 3,000 sf to 6,000 sf, during each of the next three years. A 0.65-acre site at the Valley West Shopping Center at 3001 N. Alma School Rd. in Chandler will be up and running in June as the first of the three branches to come on-line. The bank signed a 10-year lease with building owner, Valley West Shopping Center LLC of Chandler. Terms of that lease were unavailable.

Two other bank branches, in Gilbert and Peoria, will open by October. The Gilbert branch will be situated on slightly less than an acre at the southwest corner of Higley and Baseline roads in Gilbert, which Compass purchased for $825,000 from Mariah Properties VIII LLC of Gilbert. In Peoria, the banking firm will build a branch on close to 1.2 acres at the southeast corner 107th and Olive avenues. The site was purchased for $750,000 from 107th Avenue & Olive Retail LLC of Phoenix.

Murphy, along with Susan Mendonca, also with CB Richard Ellis, represented Compass Bank in all three transactions. The sellers handled negotiations with an in-house representative.