Property housing Albuquerque Tortilla Co. sells after listing for $19.2 million

A major industrial facility dubbed the Albuquerque Tortilla property has sold after just four months on the market.

A company by the name of Torhold LLC purchased the 186,000-square-foot property in a deal that closed in late September, according to a news release.

The property, spanning two conjoined buildings located at 4300 Alexander NE and 1700 Desert Surf NE near Top Golf, was listed by local commercial real estate company Duke City Commercial LLC for $19.2 million in late May. The final sale price was not disclosed.

“To get an offer that was accepted so soon on such a complex property for New Mexico — I was very happy that it worked out well,” said Duke City Commercial President Joe Farr. “We found a good buyer. Sellers are happy, buyers are happy (and) I’m happy to be a part of it.”

The property is fully occupied by Canada-based Aliya’s Foods, an East Indian food manufacturer, and Mexico-based Gruma, the parent company of Mission Foods, a Mexican food manufacturer that is also the parent company of Albuquerque Tortilla Co. — hence the property’s nickname.

The property’s Alexander building was built in 1986 and the Desert Surf address was built in 2007, according to Farr. Albuquerque Tortilla Co. is an original tenant of the property, and different food manufacturers have historically filled the rest of the space due to its proximity to both Interstate 40 and Interstate 25, Farr said.

Farr attributes the property’s swift sale to its location, in addition to Albuquerque’s tight industrial market. A Colliers market report shows Albuquerque’s vacancy rate for industrial spaces in quarter one of this year was 3.8%, indicating low supply and high demand and creating ideal conditions for landlords of industrial properties. The vacancy rate was 4% in quarter two, showing signs of stabilization, another report said.

“It’s eased up a little bit, but it’s still very tight,” Farr said.

The property’s previous owner, an entity known as The Tortilla Building LLC, owned the property for 14 years before selling, the news release said.

“For commercial real estate, that’s a long time to own a property because every five years you have to refinance,” Farr said. “So they were just like, ‘Time is right. We’ve had it for a long time. It’s time to move on to other things.’”

The property received multiple offers and “strong interest” from several groups, Farr said.

The buyer, who declined to comment on the purchase, is based out of New Mexico and owns properties in multiple states, Farr said.

A representative for the seller said in a statement the previous longtime owner was “gratified” to hand the property over the a new ownership group “seeking a presence in the Southwestern market.”

Farr said he considers the listing and its sale a win for his local company, which was founded just over a decade ago and offers brokerage, advisory and property management services across New Mexico.

“When investors look at selling an asset of this size, what I’ll call ‘the nationals’ tend to get a lot of those listings because they have access to national markets and access to people in all parts of the United States,” Farr said. “It’s not as common for a local guy like me (who) doesn’t have any national affiliations to get it. I was very grateful.”