GTI Fabrication Leases Manufacturing Plant Outside Phoenix

GTI Fabrication has leased a 530,300-square-foot building outside Phoenix to manufacture battery casings.

The Buffalo, New York-based modular building and shipping container manufacturer will occupy the plant in Lakin Park at the southwest corner of Cotton Lane and MC 85, along the future State Route 30 in Goodyear, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

Financial terms of the six-year lease from developers Clarius Partners and Walton Street Capital were not disclosed.

Brokers Andy Markham, Mike Haenel, Phil Haenel, Foster Bundy, Katie Repine, Justin Smith and Jordan Sims of Cushman & Wakefield represented both the landlord and tenant.

GTI created a beachhead in Phoenix last year by taking an 80,000-square-foot building to focus on battery energy storage systems through its GTI Energy LLC, according to its LinkedIn page.

The company’s services will support a growing clean energy sector in greater Phoenix, which has drawn battery manufacturers LG Energy Solution and KORE Power, electric vehicle makers and an increasing number of energy storage projects, according to the Business Journal.

GTI’s lease marks the second lease at the Lakin Park in Goodyear, nearly 20 miles west of Phoenix.

In 2022, Qurate Retail leased the first building at Lakin Park, totaling 730,000 square feet. When complete, the industrial park will contain 4.5 million square feet.

Markham said GTI selected the facility because of its existing power and air conditioning, offices, immediate availability and proximity to the West Coast, where it ships its product.

Large industrial leases across greater Phoenix slowed in the third quarter ending, with more newly completed buildings driving up vacancy, according to the Business Journal. Industrial vacancy hit 12 percent while the net absorption totaled 3 million square feet, bringing the year-to-date total to 12.5 million square feet, according to Kidder Mathews research.

— Dana Bartholomew