Heavyweight logistics firm scoops up more than 1 million square feet in Phoenix

Article originally posted on CoStar on August 21, 2026

One of Phoenix’s few available megawarehouses has been leased before construction is complete.

DHL Group has preleased VT 303 in Glendale to occupy the entire 1.15 million-square-foot building, reports indicate.

The deal represents a win for the landlord, VanTrust Real Estate, which placed a bet on Phoenix’s scarcity of megawarehouses to rework the initial vision for the 66-acre site. CBRE’s Cooper Fratt, who was involved in representing the landlord in the deal, told CoStar News that VT 303 was conceptualized as a five-building industrial park that would be done in phases, but VanTrust changed course, opting for one “big-bomber” building.

In a statement to CoStar News, DHL said it doesn’t comment on specific real estate transactions. A spokesperson said the company focuses on “helping customers optimize their supply chains through flexible logistics and warehousing solutions that support their business needs.”

The property will add to a growing Phoenix-area portfolio for DHL, which has signed more than 4 million square feet of leases since the start of 2026 across seven properties in the region, according to CoStar.

“The deal reiterates the robust and accelerating tenant demand we’ve seen in the Phoenix industrial market, particularly for the valley’s largest, modern properties,” said Connor Devereux, senior director of market analytics for CoStar.

The building is slated to open by the end of the year, “at a time when Metro Phoenix is once again a top choice for leading corporate logistics firms,” according to VanTrust Executive Vice President Keith Earnest.

As the West Valley has deepened its employment base, Fratt said the mix of users interested in signing a lease in Phoenix has diversified. Beyond logistics and warehousing, Fratt said he’s tracking interest from companies tied to the data center industry.

So far this year, there have been six industrial leases of 500,000 square feet or more as of Aug. 19, including space commitments from DHL, Fluidstack and Amazon Web Services. In 2025, there were eight such transactions.

Fratt said there’s a rush from developers to secure land where they can build 500,000-square-foot buildings or bigger. Last month, GO Industrial broke ground on a 1.1 million-square-foot building in Phoenix.

Additionally, there has been a notable uptick in owner-user transactions, including the Valley’s two largest single-building industrial sales of 2025. Walmart and Dollar Tree each paid more than $145 million to acquire recently built West Valley warehouses that each span about 1.3 million square feet.

Phoenix’s industrial market surged to over 23 million square feet of net absorption — the net change in space occupied — in the 12-month period ending in the second quarter. That amount ranks second in the nation among major U.S. markets and is one of the highest periods of demand formation on record for Phoenix, trailing only the unprecedented surge in 2021 and 2022.

CBRE’s Cooper Fratt and John Werstler represented the property owner, VanTrust Real Estate.

JLL’s Kelly Royle, Marc Hertzberg, Charlotte Elstob, Dan McGillicuddy and Tony Lydon represented the tenant. JLL declined to comment for this story, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

Butler Design Group designed VT 303, and Layton Construction is the project’s general contractor.