by RaeAnne Marsh

DEER VALLEY – Two more office warehouse projects stand completed in the Deer Valley Airport area. Happy Valley Commerce Center, off Happy Valley Road just east of 19th Avenue, began to take shape less than two years ago, and what began as a small core of buildings reached via a driveway has expanded to a commercial community with a system of paved streets and a variety of buildings.

Three M Property Management owns two buildings almost twin to each other, one on each of the two developed, paved and signaged blocks of Whispering Wind that form a “T” with 17th Avenue just south of Happy Valley Road.

“We’ve been a niche brokerage in the Scottsdale Airpark, but with the increase in commercial property prices there, the availability of investment property is declining,” says Three M’s broker JD Manning, echoing the experience of many developers who have made the Deer Valley Airport area a hotbed of construction over the last two years.

“The area around Deer Valley Airport is similar, but it’s in a different stage of development,” he observes. Not only finding land costs “significantly less,” Manning explains that they felt there was a segment of the market that was underserved: small mom‑and‑pop businesses and those just outgrowing a home office. Plus, “with the residential growth, we’re getting a lot of people who want to be closer to home.”

Design of the buildings purposely incorporates flexibility, “so we can accommodate the basic needs of every business,” Manning notes.

Each building encompasses 21,000 square feet of space. Individual units occupy 2,000‑3,000 square feet. Both buildings are oriented lengthwise on their parcel of land, affording the tenants signage opportunity facing the street. Delivery trucks have easy access to the rear of the building, where doors are at grade. And both buildings offer parking in front and rear. The footprint of each on its parcel matches the other, as does the primary color of the building–a shade of desert sand that stands out among the other buildings in the commerce center as much lighter in tone.

Although the same in general aspect, the two buildings differ in the details. The building at 1506 W. Whispering Wind faces south. Doorways are set back, and are shaded by outward‑arching steel canopies with a metal mesh over the top. Two doors share each recess, side by side but separated by a stone column that extends above the canopy but not all the way to the roofline. Functional in nature, the stone column also helps anchor the canopy.

The exterior walls are scored into a tile‑look where the surface is smooth. Bands of split‑face block cross the length of the building face, adding color as well as texture–a dark brown band at the roof edge and skimming above the windows, and a red at the base of the building. The red matches that of the wall behind the landscaped setback which partially shields the parking lot from the street while keeping most of the building visible from the street. Two driveways on Whispering Wind give access to the property. Traffic can circulate around three sides of the building but not the fourth side; and a third driveway spills directly to or from the rear of the building on 15th Avenue.

The building at 1611 W. Whispering Wind faces north. Windows are large and, for the most part, unprotected, as they face less directly into the sun. Doors alternate with windows all the way across the building, with no two doors side by side. To add interest, regular rectangles of canopy are placed at the two front corners and in the center of the building. A band of split‑face block stretches across the base of the front wall, but other bands of color–shades of brown and tan–seem painted. The view of this building’s curbside parking is also protected by a low wall, this one in bands of color like the building. Two driveways off Whispering Wind give access to the property, and traffic can circulate completely around the building.

“We primarily deal in office warehouse spaces that cater to the smaller builder,” Manning says, noting that they can be much more expensive to build and bring to market. Three M Property Management works with LGE in the construction of its product. “We like to work with them because they can oversee the entire process, bringing in the architects, engineers and construction companies.” His company’s forte lies in finding the property, he adds.

Although the area seems to be newly attractive for commercial development, the environmental report that preceded construction in Happy Valley Commerce Center indicated a trucking company had used the area in the 1970s, and a stash of old tires was uncovered during construction. “An environmental company had to be called in to make sure there were no contaminants,” Manning relates.

Tenants who have been attracted to the Whispering Wind properties include The Original Liquid Stucco, Divine Wine Imports and Budget Brothers Pest & Termite. For information on leasing space at either Whispering Wind office warehouse property, contact JD Manning of Three M Property Management at (480) 609‑3936.