The CB Richard Ellis South Bay office team of Tres Reid, Ken Carey and Greg Dyer says the new lease will bring the total of space occupied by FMI International to 924,8076 sf. The CBRE team, which represented the property owner, SSR Realty Advisors, notes that FMI already is in 411,699 sf of space at the 87.5-acre facility. The new FMI International space is at 400 Westmont Dr. The company, which is a third-party logistics provider for the US apparel industry, is one of three logistics firms that occupy the Port of Los Angeles Distribution Center. Ed Whittemore of Los Angeles Real Estate Management represented FMI.

The FMI lease continues what industrial specialists say is an ongoing increase in the number of logistics firms operating in and around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as the volume of goods shipped through the ports continues to rise. According to estimates by CB Richard Ellis, logistics firms occupy 12 million to 15 million sf of the 125 million sf in the Mid-Counties industrial submarket, which includes cities in both Los Angeles County and Orange County that operate port-oriented facilities.

SSR Realty Advisors acquired the Port of Los Angeles Distribution Center last year from Gardena-based Overton Moore Properties, the developer of the distribution center. The property, which is one of the largest facilities of its kind in Southern California, is part of a portfolio of more than $5 billion of assets under management by SSR. A subsidiary of MetLife and an affiliate of State Street Research & Management Co. of Boston, SSR provides real estate investment management advisory services to more than 100 pension plan sponsors and other institutional investors.