A speculative industrial building in Casa Grande has reached full occupancy, with four tenants now filling every square foot of the newly built warehouse less than an hour southeast of central Phoenix. The milestone caps a project that broke ground without a single signed lease in hand, betting instead on central Arizona's surging demand for industrial space.
The Phoenix office of JLL announced it had signed the final lease at the property, known as KV Casa Grande, bringing the Class A development to 100% occupancy, according to citybiz. The building was developed by Kentwood Ventures and totals roughly 314,453 square feet, per JLL's property listing, though Kentwood Ventures itself lists the project at 314,000 square feet on its own site. The four tenants occupying the space serve the health care, packaging, HVAC distribution and logistics sectors, and the building is described as one of Casa Grande's first modern, fully speculative industrial projects to deliver.
Kentwood Ventures principal Jim Zemezonak said the company built the project without pre-leasing because it believed in central Arizona's growing industrial role and the demand and supply that growth would require. He noted the building reached full occupancy on roughly the same timeline as a comparable project in Maricopa County. Kentwood's own project page states the development was completed in June 2024, and that the company secured its first tenant, ARS, Inc., before construction had even wrapped.
Inside the Build and Its Backers
The building sits on 18 acres and features a 32-foot clear height, ESFR sprinklers, LED lighting, a 185-foot concrete truck court and 6,000 amps of power. JLL's listing describes the property as having 33 dock-high doors and 12 grade-level doors, though door counts have varied across project materials over time. JLL's exclusive leasing brokers for the property were Anthony Lydon, John Lydon, Hagen Hyatt and Kelly Royle.
Hyatt said Casa Grande's location suits companies that support the larger industrial users moving into metro Phoenix. The site sits within minutes of Interstates 10 and 8 and offers roughly the same drive time to Sky Harbor as Buckeye, while also providing closer access to Tucson, San Diego and Mexico, with Los Angeles and the Inland Empire within easy reach. Nearby manufacturers and suppliers include Air Products, Kohler, Frito-Lay and Lactalis.
Back in June 2023, JLL announced it had arranged $15 million in joint-venture equity and $23 million in financing to get the project built, noting at the time that Casa Grande's industrial vacancy rate stood at just 1.3% with limited speculative construction underway, according to JLL's newsroom. Casa Grande is also described as offering a lower cost of doing business, and industrial vacancy rates in the area have since reached virtually zero.
Pinal County's Rapid Growth Fuels Demand
The lease-up comes as Pinal County, positioned between Phoenix and Tucson, has become Arizona's fastest-growing county, drawing an employer base that pulls workers from both metro areas. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county's population had ballooned to 539,000 in 2025, making it the seventh-fastest-growing county in the entire country, per Axios. Typical home values in Pinal County run about 22% below those in Phoenix, a gap that has helped fuel the population influx.
Regional demand trends back up the bet Kentwood made on Casa Grande. Colliers reported that industrial demand across the Phoenix area is increasingly being driven by corporate occupiers and advanced manufacturing, with average industrial asking rent climbing to $1.01 per square foot per month in the third quarter of 2026, up from $0.94 the prior quarter, according to the Phoenix CRE Brief. Other recent regional activity cited in that same brief includes DPR Construction's 322,000-square-foot lease at Papago Commerce Center, Discount Tire's $64 million purchase of a 290,000-square-foot West Valley warehouse, and Honeywell Aerospace's plans for a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Tempe.
More Kentwood Projects in the Pipeline
KV Casa Grande is one of four developments Kentwood Ventures has completed in Arizona, alongside KV Buckeye, a 249,600-square-foot, two-building complex in Buckeye; the 100,000-square-foot Flagstaff Innovation Park; and Kentwood 303, a 272,000-square-foot industrial/flex project in Glendale. Both KV Buckeye and Kentwood 303 have since sold to institutional investors. A related Buckeye project, KV Buckeye 10, sold for $51 million while 60% leased, according to AZ Big Media.
With KV Casa Grande fully leased, Kentwood still has an additional 19 acres remaining at the site and anticipates developing a second phase there. Kentwood Ventures' portfolio page states the company anticipates commencing development of KV Casa Grande II, a 17-acre site adjacent to the east of the existing property, in 2026, though it remains unclear whether that timeline has been met. Kentwood's principals have a combined 70 years of experience and have completed $8 billion in local and national transactions. JLL, which brokered the leasing, employs more than 600 regional industry experts in Phoenix and reports annual revenue of $26.1 billion, operating in more than 80 countries with approximately 112,000 employees as of September 30, 2026.
