Hot property: Plymouth Ponds Business Park

17100 Medina Road, Plymouth

Type: Industrial

Buildings: Eight

Estimated cost: $35 million

Owner: MU Plymouth Ponds

Details: United Properties, which has been focusing more on its investment and development activities in the wake of a reorganization, and Moen Leuer Commercial Inc. have deepened an existing partnership with the refinancing of an established Plymouth business park.

In a deal estimated to be worth $35 million, United Properties and Moen Leuer are combining on a refinancing and 50-50 partnership deal for ownership of the Plymouth Ponds Business Park, a 53-acre park that Moen began developing in the 1990s at Hwy. 55 and Rockford Road.

The business park also is the home base of Moen Leuer, which with the deal has established a second major partnership with United Properties. The firms have also teamed to develop Blaine Preserve, a 132-acre business park that last year signed Arrowhead Electrical Products as an anchor tenant for a new 100,000-square-foot building in that suburb.

Since United Properties reorganized last year, spinning off its brokerage and property management functions to other corporate entities, it has concentrated more on acquiring investment properties, and the Plymouth Ponds deal fell into that category, according to Bill Katter, a United senior vice president for development.

"United Properties has been trying to acquire and develop industrial space for a while now, and we'd like to increase our exposure to that kind of project in our portfolio," Katter said. "We acquired a 50 percent interest in the property, and my own personal belief is that it's one of the highest-quality industrial properties in the Twin Cities."

The Twin Cities' industrial space market was at its strongest in the northwest suburbs in the first half of this year, according to research by United sister firm NorthMarq.

Much of the leasing activity there is spurred by medical technology companies.