TEMECULA, CA— At this point in time, the Temecula, CA, market needs new industrial product, and the prospects for oversupply are not significant, at least during our development horizon, MCA Realty principal Tyler Mattox tells GlobeSt.com. In May, the firm acquired an eight-acre land parcel in Temecula and plans to develop a 140,000-square-foot industrial building on the site, which broke ground on May 30. The development, which it will brand as MCA Business Center, will be the first industrial development built in the city of Temecula in more than eight years.

We spoke with Mattox about the Temecula industrial market and what is driving tenants to locate there.

GlobeSt.com: How would you describe the Temecula market for industrial product?

Mattox: The Temecula market is currently very supply constrained. There is a material shortage of industrial space in the market, and tenant demand is strong. Industrial vacancy at the end of Q1 2017 was 1.79%, and there is currently very little new construction. This dynamic has been the appeal to us.

GlobeSt.com: What are the advantages of locating in this market versus closer in toward the coast?

Mattox: Supply constraint and pent-up occupant demand. The knock on Temecula historically has been that the market can be volatile. Because it is a relatively new industrial market, we've seen periods of overbuilding, which have led to periods of higher-than-average vacancy. At this point in time, we believe that the market needs new industrial product, and that the prospects for oversupply are not significant, at least during our development horizon. Unlike in prior development cycles, the availability of industrially zoned land is also constrained. The City of Temecula owns a 30-acre site adjacent to our project that is zoned industrial and surrounded by industrial product. The city has decided to support a water park on this site as opposed to a more-cohesive industrial development. This type of decision making should place even more constraints on the existing industrial stock.

GlobeSt.com: What is unique for your firm about this project?

Mattox: This project represents a bit of a departure for us. We've historically been focused on purchasing and renovating value-add multi-tenant business parks throughout the western United States. The Temecula property represents MCA's first ground-up development. For this reason, we were very careful to select industry leaders for our design and construction team. Fullmer Construction, Architects of Orange, SB&O Civil Engineers and GeoTek Engineering all have decades of design and development experience, and the engineers both have history with our site that dates back more than 10 years. Furthermore, the seller of the site was very understanding of the complexities that the site presented and allowed us the time to work through the entitlement process. Without this flexibility, we would have abandoned the project early on. The entitlement environment in the City of Temecula is very challenging, and the process took more than 18 months to finalize.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this project?

Mattox: We commenced construction on Tuesday, May 30, and are excited to see the project progress. We will have a time-lapse camera on site to chart the progress of the project so that our brokerage team and our investors can be updated daily with the changes to the site. The building is designed to accommodate up to four tenants, but also serves a single tenant well. We've had good initial activity from prospective tenants and buyers in advance of breaking ground, and are optimistic that this will continue as we progress through the construction phase. Furthermore, given the project's superior parking when compared to its peer group, we have the ability to accommodate many uses that require slightly more office or manufacturing space than existing buildings or newer projects with lower parking ratios.

Instant Insights /

What's Drawing Industrial Tenants to Temecula?

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