TEMPE, AZ-Vulcan Real Estate has made its first investmentoutside of the Seattle market, paying $35 million for TempeGateway, a class A office building. The company, which is the realestate investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s VulcanInc., acquired the eight-story, 260,000-square-foot property fromthe lender. The acquisition was brokered by the CBRE’s investmentsales team of Jim Fijan, Jerry Roberts and Corey Hawley.

The acquisition marks the company’s efforts to diversify itsassets, according to Ada Healey, vice president of real estate atVulcan Inc. She tells GlobeSt.com that Vulcan is looking foracquisition opportunities in Phoenix and Southern California.

“Our initial thinking is that we’d like to stay on the WestCoast so we can get there in two to three hours,” Healey says. Thecompany believes that markets like Phoenix and those in SouthernCalifornia will rebound from the recession more quickly than othersdue to their proximity to major employment centers and transitshubs, as well as job and population growth