(Read more on the industrial market.)

PHOENIX-A Dallas area company has entered the market through its acquisition of a two-property, 359,031-sf portfolio. The new owner paid $22.8 million to First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. for the eight-building portfolio, and is looking for more property in Phoenix.

Joe Porter, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis Inc., represented seller First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. and says Cobalt Capital Partners LP through its industrial REIT affiliate beat out close to a dozen offers to take possession of the 27-year-old portfolio. The properties are the 302,346-sf Van Buren Distribution Center at 10 S. to 240 N. 48th Ave. and the 56,685-sf Watkins Distribution Center at 115-135 E. Watkins St.

Both centers are 88% leased, and Porter tells GlobeSt.com that the self-represented Cobalt was impressed with the portfolio's potential upside. "There's one 41,000-sf space that's vacant, and we have a couple of tenants holding for six months with under-market rents," he comments. "This is a product that's in high demand because no one is building high-dock space on the west side." CBRE senior vice presidents Dan Calihan and Pat Feeney, and sales assistant Rusty Kennedy worked with Porter on the portfolio's disposition, and are handling leasing.