ONTARIO, CA-Toyo Tires has signed a five-year, $11.5-million lease for a newly constructed Panattoni Development Co. building at 1900 Rochester Ave. Brokers involved in the deal, which fills the entire building, say it demonstrates the continued demand for big boxes in the Inland Empire, both by investors and by tenants.

The building was developed by Panattoni Development Co. and sold to CBRE Investors before the completion of construction. The acquisition by CBRE Investors is one of a growing number of instances lately in which investors have acquired vacant new construction because they are confident of leasing the property quickly, notes Jay Dick of the CB Richard Ellis team that brokered the lease.

Other members of the CBRE team, which represented the landlord, included Darla Longo, David Consani and Jim Koenig. Toyo Tires was represented internally by Jay Carroll and by Darren Shirai of the Everest Group.

Owner-users also are driving the demand for the large warehouses. In one recent deal, for example, Chatsworth-based retailer Lamps Plus acquired a 784,000-sf warehouse in the California Palms Business Center in Ontario for $54 million to consolidate and expand its distribution facilities. That deal was one of the largest single-user transactions in the market in the past year.