Local Church Buys Gilbert Commerce Center for $8.9M

The sale of the Gilbert Commerce Center to the Los Angeles-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel began with a phone call from a youth Noble had worked with in the 1970s while volunteering in a high school outreach ministry called Young Life. The caller, now a pastor at a Chandler church, phoned to put Noble in touch with a colleague at Life Community Church in Gilbert who needed advice on whether his congregation should purchase the business park that it was currently occupying.

That call led to a luncheon meeting in January with congregation members and more than six months of property and financial analysis before Noble sealed the deal. "For years I always considered my real vocation to be involved with people and the ministry," Noble tells GlobeSt.com. The sale of the Gilbert Commerce Center offered a common bond between his profession and his avocation.

Located at 459 N. Gilbert Rd., the 102,609-sf property provided both an investment for the congregation and an opportunity for future expansion. Currently, Life Community Church occupies about 25% of one of the property's four buildings. An adjacent 1 1/2 acre parcel will allow for the future construction of a sanctuary, Noble said.

The business park, which was sold in a joint venture by former owners Holualoa of Phoenix and VJ Properties of Scottsdale, is currently 90% occupied by 36 tenants, including the architectural firm Hoffman Dietz Architects.