Heller family pays $4.1M for warehouse

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 6, 2007 by Kirby Lee Davis

TULSA - The Heller Family Investments LLC paid $4.1 million for the 100,000-square-foot Airpark Distribution Center 1 industrial building in Tulsa.

The seller, Kansas City Life Insurance Co., opened the structure in 2004 at 11401 E. 27th St. North, just off south Garnett Road and U.S. Highway 169.

The deal represents the 19th property in the Heller family portfolio, 90 percent of those in the Tulsa area, said owner Greg Heller. The Airpark may mark the family's first venture into the industrial warehouse marketplace. Heller said the family's properties run over the whole spectrum, although many focus on retail and office.

Acquiring the Airpark site for investment purposes, Greg Heller said the family intends to acquire two other properties this year.

This sale represents the third by Kansas City Life in two months.

Last month a group of Tulsa investors paid $7.25 million for two Kansas City Life industrial warehouses in south Tulsa. ASI 400 LLC acquired the 100,000-square-foot structure at 13555 E. 61st St., and the neighboring 57,450-square-foot building at 13105 E. 61st St.

All three were among the five spec centers Kansas City Life added to the Tulsa market from 2004 to 2006, injecting 457,450 square feet in all at the Airpark and Metro Park East developments. Two of those buildings remain in the insurer's portfolio.

CB Richard Ellis of Oklahoma, which manages the five-acre Airpark property, reported it 40-percent occupied, all by one firm - Integrated Logistics Solutions, a distributor of nuts and bolts. The remaining 60,000 square feet stands available at $4.25 per square foot per year.

The structure's amenities include 30-foot ceiling clearance, a dock-high loading drive-in, and custom office finish.

Although crimped by construction costs, CBRE officials expect the Tulsa-area industrial market to remain quite strong this year, with an occupancy rate of about 93 percent.