ANAHEIM, CA-The Carson Cos. of Newport Beach, CA, has leased a 128,372-square-foot class A distribution building to A&R Wholesale Distributors who will move from east Anaheim to the new facility on Penhall Way in Anaheim. The six-year lease had a total consideration in excess of $4.5 million.

A&R Wholesale distributes food and snack products to school districts. The class A industrial building included 30 foot minimum ceilings, ESFR sprinkler system, and multiple dock high positions.

The Carson Cos. was represented by Clyde Stauff and Steve Calhoun of Colliers International, and the tenant was represented by Jeff Mitchell, senior vice president of Voit Real Estate Services. GlobeSt.com could not retain any further information on the deal by deadline.

The Orange County market is comprised of approximately 153.5 million square feet of warehouse/distribution and manufacturing industrial property. The market is centrally located in the middle of the other three major industrial markets (Los Angeles, Inland Empire, and San Diego). Compared to neighboring markets, Orange County has the lowest total vacancy rate behind only Los Angeles, says JLL VP Garrick Shupe, who was not involved in this deal.

“Since the end of the recent recession, the industrial market has been the property type that has been recovering more rapidly than the other commercial sectors in Orange County,” he says. “The lack of new construction over the last three years has limited the amount of options available for tenants in the market which has helped to constrain the countywide vacancy rate.”

Orange County lacks the level of quality space that is offered by neighboring industrial markets but continues to attract tenants with its central location in Southern California, he adds.

Shupe makes three predictions for O.C.’s industrial future: The first is that if manufacturing jobs continue to decline here, he says to expect the industrial sector’s pace of recovery to slow in 2012. “It is likely a slowdown will be seen in the first half of 2012 due to market uncertainty, however job growth will determine the length of the slowdown and if it will carry over into the latter half of the year.”

His second prediction is that “if the demand for space continues to strengthen in neighboring industrial markets, such as the burgeoning Inland Empire market, Orange County could benefit by attracting tenants who are unwilling to pay premium rents or unable to find options that suit their requirements.” He points out that it is unlikely this type of spillover effect will be prevalent in 2012 but could begin to take place in the near future depending on the pace of the recovery.

Lastly, Shupe says that if the total vacancy rate continues to decline over the course of the year, expect demand for Orange County industrial space to increase to the point where new projects will begin to come online. “The projects that will be highest in demand, and the most attractive to build, will be modern industrial product to compete with what is offered by the Inland Empire market,” he says. “Modern, high-quality industrial space is currently hard to come by in Orange County.