As the Tucson office market continues to recover from the pandemic, owners are finding innovative ways to repurpose excess space. With widespread adoption of remote work and a tight labor market, many large office properties stand vacant. According to the Arizona Daily Star, users are converting these spaces to grow houses, pickleball courts, storage facilities, and industrial space.
It’s no secret that like the national boom in industrial demand, Tucson’s industrial market is thriving. Property owners with buildings constructed for warehouse uses that were built out for dense call center environments are beginning to adjust to this shift in demand. One example can be found at 3760 N Commerce Drive, which was initially constructed in 1985 as a warehouse building and underwent an adaptation into office space and was utilized by several large tech support call centers. The pandemic made many industries realize they can operate remotely, and large call centers are among the first to be impacted.
The warehouse portion of this space was recently leased to Marsden Services, LLC, a company specializing in a wide range of professional services, including janitorial, security, mechanical, emergency response, and facility services. Marsden Services now occupies a substantial 66,768 square feet of the building, primarily utilizing it as a warehouse and manufacturing facility. Steve Cohen, an industrial specialist with Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR, represented the landlord in this transaction. “With the large number of call center spaces coming back on the market, we are fortunate when the spaces are converted into industrial buildings. Smart owners are making the conversion back to industrial, despite the cost and lower rents”, says Cohen.
As the Tucson office market continues to align with demand fluctuations, the value of large office spaces is far from lost – it’s just a matter of adaptation and creativity. With Tucson’s industrial sector thriving, properties like 3760 Commerce Drive demonstrate the opportunity available when investing in conversion to higher-demand uses.
