Auto Repair Firm Takes Space Rockefeller Distro Center

TUCSON-Safelite Group Inc. owner and operator of Safelite Auto Glass locations, has taken down 33,331 square feet of space in the 113,000-square-foot Rockefeller Group Distribution Center, located in the Tucson Airport Commerce Center. The company, which repairs and replaces automobile windshields and other related types of glass, will use the space as a local service center as well as a warehouse and distribution location.

Mark Singerman, Rockefeller Group Development Corp.’s  (RGDC) Arizona regional director says the move is a relocation and expansion for Safelite.  Singerman adds that RGDC is in the process of tenant improvements and Safelite will make its move to the distribution center on Lisa Frank Avenue in February or March, 2012.

Details of the lease agreement were not released. Asking rates for space at Rockefeller Group Distribution Center are $.65 per square foot, triple net.

The building to which Safelite will move in a few months already has a tenant, Towne Air Freight, which signed a lease in October 2009, shortly after the project’s first building was completed. The Safelite deal leaves 68,000 square feet remaining. With the demand for industrial space growing, Singerman tells GlobeSt.com that RGDC is in a good position in Tucson. Though there are no immediate plans for more spec development, the 21-acre Rockefeller Group Distribution Center can be built out to three buildings totaling 410,000 square feet .

“Rockefeller has positioned itself in Tucson by offering a class A type of product,” he explains. “We compete with one or two other projects, but the majority of the product in Tucson is older stock.” Not just older stock, he goes on to say, but older metal buildings.  Potential tenants eyeing Rockefeller Distribution Center are interested in a better quality structure, he notes.

“I think that’s the reason Safelite chose us,” he comments. In addition to being housed in an attractive, LEED-silver certified building, Safelite liked the ESFR sprinkler system, Singerman says.

The next goal is to get the current building leased-up, which Singerman says could happen sooner rather than later. There has been good interest in recent months. “With the Safelite lease, we’re about 45% occupied,” he adds. “Activity breeds activity, and we’re hoping we’ll have the building filled up in 2012.”