PHOENIX-RiverRock Real Estate Group, a Newport Beach, CA-basedmanagement and leasing firm, has nabbed its first assignment in theValley. The firm will handle the property management of a1.6-million-square-foot industrial portfolio that includes 14manufacturing and distribution warehouse buildings.

RiverRock Founder John Combs declined to disclose the firm’snewest client, but local sources say DCT Industrial, a Denver-basedREIT, owns the industrial portfolio. In March, the REIT awardedproperty management responsibilities for its Phoenix portfolio toThe Muller Co., a Laguna Hills, CA-based firm, and it looks likethe properties are changing hands again.

As part of the Phoenix expansion, RiverRock has named MichelleWeber as property manager to oversee the industrial assignment. Shewas a property manager with Transwestern in Phoenix, overseeing aportion of RREEF’s portfolio after RREEF outsourced their propertymanagement division to Transwestern. Prior to that role, Weber wasa property manager with RREEF.