"This facility works well for them because it's between two existing facilities," explains Kevin Czerwinski, senior vice president with First Industrial Realty's Phoenix region. The location is at 9180 W. Buckeye Rd. The other two facilities are at 9600 W. Buckeye Rd., also in Tolleson and at 9210 W. Peoria Ave. in Peoria, AZ.

Furthermore, Czerwinski points out, Holsum Bakery required a facility with a lot of loading doors and trailer parking spaces, and 10-year-old, cross-dock facility supplies all of that. Though the total lease consideration was kept under wraps, space is quoted at $.32 per square foot triple net. The Holsum deal came with tenant improvements. CB Richard Ellis' Phoenix office represented First Industrial Realty, while Scottsdale, AZ-based Martin Property Advisors handled the tenant representation side.

Meanwhile, there is still about 110,000 square feet of space remaining in the facility. "This was originally developed as a build-to-suit for FedEx, but they never moved into it," Czerwinski tells GlobeSt.com. Instead, Atrium Door & Window sublet it in 1998, and when the lease expired 10 years later, "we cleaned it up and repositioned it," Czerwinski says. "Holsum is the first tenant there."

Czerwinski says activity on this and other projects was extraordinarily slow during the first part of the year, to the point that there was almost no activity. However, he says, things have begun picking up within the past month. A couple of parties are currently looking at the Tolleson space. However, "we have nothing firm," Czerwinski says. "As far as I'm concerned, the rest of the space is still available."