ALISO VIEJO, CA—Shea Properties is expanding its industrial portfolio with the development of a new project in Huntington Beach, CA, and an expansion of an existing project in Ontario, CA. The projects, which began construction last month, will add a total of approximately 270,000 square feet to the firm's portfolio and will be available for occupancy later this year.

Shea Center Huntington Beach will be a roughly 144,750-square-foot, two-building, state-of-the-art industrial center at 17322 and 17332 Gothard St., formerly the Randall Lumber site. The buildings, approximately 50,200 square feet and 94,500 square feet, will be constructed to CALGreen standards, with both buildings offering multiple dock-high and ground-level loading doors, 30-foot to 32-foot clearance, ESFR sprinklers and fenceable yards. CBRE brokers Bob Goodmanson and Chris Bates are handling the leasing.

Shea Center Ontario is expanding the building at 5400 Shea Center Dr. by adding on roughly 124,450 square feet. The new addition will add multiple dock-high doors, offer ESFR sprinklers, 30-ft. clearance and freeway frontage. The growing 1.65 million-square-foot project is situated along I-10. Frank Ceraci and Walt Chenoweth of Voit Commercial will handle the leasing.

According to Jon Marchiorlatti, VP industrial acquisitions and development at Shea Properties, “Growing in this region allows us to create a balanced portfolio of office, industrial, retail and multifamily assets.”

Industrial construction such as this is sorely needed in the Orange County market. As GlobeSt.com reported earlier this month, the lack of available large industrial properties in Orange County is a concern to many users looking to expand in the near future. John Hollingsworth, executive managing director of Colliers International, told Globest.com, “Along with increasing rental rates and pent-up demand, the prospect of developing industrial properties will improve, but will lag behind market demand. Since there is very little developable land remaining in Orange County, there will be an emphasis on urban-infill projects. With historically low vacancies and projected increases in rental rates, we think any development that does take place will include a good measure of speculative construction.”