PHOENIX—The Price Road Corridor is one of the hottest commercial sectors in the Valley Metro area. And with the area 50% built out, a tipping point is not in sight. With the sector employing more than 35,000 people and expectations for 75,000, the sector is also a contributing factor to making the surrounding areas like Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert some of the Valley's most desirable places to live.

The Price Road Corridor is bordered by Ray Road to the north, Ocotillo to the south, Dobson to the east and McClintock to the west. It's surrounded by high-end retail, and single and multifamily housing.

“The origin of Price Road was high tech,” Dave Seeger, managing director for JLL in Phoenix, told GlobeSt.com. “We had Microchip and Intel. The original tenant roster was all high tech. And this was before the 101 freeway and the Chandler mall. This was 15 to 20 years ago.”

Seeger says after the retail and freeway were added, the area became a major attractor for employers seeking a young, educated workforce.

A bevy of deals over the past month have involved the Price Road Corridor—most notably perhaps is the $51.75 million sale of the Continuum Business and technology park, the former Motorola campus. The campus consists of a 463,300-square-foot, class A office building on 152 acres.

“One of the driving factors in the deal was that the Price Road Corridor is one of the highest performing submarkets and there is a long list of employers for that submarket,” Justin Merritt, senior investment professional for Southwest Value Partners tells GlobeSt.com. SVP was the buyer in the deal.

“There are several million square feet of users in the market,” says Mike Beall, executive managing director, Cassidy Turley. “A lot of it the southeast part of the Valley—a lot of it in the 30-50,000-square-foot range. They (SVP) have a tremendous opportunity for build-to-suit with this land they've acquired.

Christine Mackay, economic development director for Chandler agrees that Continuum was a landmark deal.

“The sale validates the city's vision as a true player and a leader when it comes to attracting businesses and tech companies. The city put in $10 million in infrastructure for that deal,” she tells GlobeSt.com.

“Companies are coming to us and the demand is there. The vacancy rate at Price Road Corridor is below 5%. The infrastructure is there and we are ready to meet the demands. We are literally ready to go. We have companies that are shovel-ready,” says Mackey.

Breaking ground in April is a 140,000-square-foot, three-story, spec office building. It will have a two-story atrium and is suitable for a single user or multi-tenant user. It is being developed by Kieckhefer and marketed by Cassidy Turley.

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