Harrison Properties, headed by Jim Harrison, has bought a 176,000-sf warehouse at 3330 W. Cocopah St. for $4.625 million. The rail-served warehouse is about a mile and half from Interstate 17 and about two miles south of Interstate 10. The building is fully leased.

Harrison Properties also purchased an 11-acre warehouse complex with five buildings, including a 108,000-sf warehouse and some smaller buildings for $1.575 million. The Home Depot has signed a 10-year lease for the entire property and will use the space as a lumber distribution facility. The lease is valued at approximately $6 million.

The Home Depot lease was negotiated by broker Tony Lydon of the Phoenix office of Grubb & Ellis, while broker John Creedon of the Phoenix office of Atlantis Commercial negotiated the sales.

A limited partnership, founded by investor Evelyn Smith, was the seller of the two properties. The value of the two deals combined was $6.2 million. Harrison Properties now has a portfolio of warehouse space in the Valley and continues to look for B and C grade industrial buildings.

The West Valley has become the dominant submarket for warehouse and large industrial space because of its affordable land, rail service and close proximity to the freeways.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the vacancy rate in the Tolleson submarket was 17%, according to a survey by CB Richard Ellis, although much of that space is obsolete. The submarket has substantial development activity. During the year more than 1.2 million sf of industrial space was developed, and there is currently more than one million-sf of new space under construction.