NOGALES, AZ – With the upcoming $244 million expansion of the Mariposa Port of Entry, the Nogales Santa Cruz Port Authority is seeing increased demand for international trade warehouse space and property.
Nohe Garcia is the owner of the La Loma Grande Industrial Park, and he has been developing property for commercial development there. “Within the past 10 months, there is now demand that did not exist before the Nogales warehouse space,” he says. Nohe is currently finishing nine lots with infrastructure on 215 acres of his industrially zoned property.
Southern Arizona commercial land developers and Realtors® say that Mexico’s economic growth and rising global trade in agribusiness, mining, manufacturing and logistics industries through the Mariposa Port of Entry have also led to the increased demand for commercial and industrial space, according to a press release.
Denisse Angulo-Badilla, International Commercial Specialist with Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR, has seen a major increase in interest in the commercial space. “Nogales is a hot market,” she observes, “where industry is especially looking for space in the range of 5,000 – 50,000 square feet.” She also notes that more companies have approached her in the past six months than in the previous eight years, according to a press release.
To help meet this increased demand, several Nogales organizations are helping to connect local Realtors® and developers to prospective commercial and industrial industries. “Through the Nogales-Santa Cruz Economic Development Foundation and the Greater Nogales-Santa Cruz Count Port Authority, we are positioned to provide assistance to industries looking to find property and commercial space in Nogales, Arizona as a place to do international trade and to benefit from use of our Foreign Trade Zone,” says Nils Urman, representing Nogales Community Development.
Urman is also a member of the City of Nogales' economic development and tourism advisory board and a board member of the Greater Nogales-Santa Cruz County Economic Development Foundation. "With the increase in Mexican maquilas due to the 'nearshoring' trends to move operations from China to Mexico - which in Nogales, Sonora now employs about 34,000 people and includes more than 100 plants - we are becoming a 'logistics cluster' to support our port of entry. We, as a public-private partnership, are positioned to support the growing international trade industry in our region,” he added.
With all of the expansion that the port is currently experiencing, this is definitely one I will be keeping my eye on.
