GRAND PRAIRIE, TX-First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. has scooped up its third deed this year in the Great Southwest Industrial District, spending close to the $1.9-million assessment for a 101,839-sf structure on 4.6 acres.

According to the Dallas Central Appraisal District, seller National Life Insurance Co. of Monteplier, VT acquired the building at 1905 110th St. in Grand Prairie in October 1988. It reportedly is one of the insurance company's last holdings in the region.

Don Stoffle, senior investment officer for Chicago-based First Industrial, tells GlobeSt.com that the structure, built in 1974, was 51% leased at sale time. He and the seller's broker, Keith Webster of Raven Capital Partners in Dallas, negotiated an all-cash sale.

“With the amount of product that we have in Dallas-Fort Worth, we are fairly comfortable that we can lease this fairly quickly,” Stoffle says. The “opportunistic” play will come to the leasing market with a face-lift, he adds.

Stoffle, who's transitioning to marketing director, says the spending plan for North Texas has been $50 million to $60 million annually for the last four years…and he'd like to spend that much again this year. The latest purchase is proof that “deal size doesn't get in the way,” he says.

The sale was made on the property's positioning in the Great Southwest. “We love that submarket,” Stoffle stresses, noting that Great Southwest holdings now total 750,000 sf, but the team clearly is shopping for more buildings. The overall DFW portfolio stands at five million sf.