Will L’Oreal Be the Catalyst for an Industrial Boom in Kern County?

John DeGrinis is a senior executive VP at Colliers International.

L’Oreal USA could be the catalyst for big growth in Kern County. The company recently signed a 240,000-square-foot lease at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, moving its current operations in Santa Clarita to Kern County. L’Oreal considered several other markets, including Reno, NV and the Central Valley market to the north, but settled on Kern County for its close proximity to L.A., access to labor and a local tax incentive program. John DeGrinis of Colliers International says that other companies are likely going to take note.

“We believe that as you see more transactions occur that way, there will be a pathway from users that were located in the north Los Angeles industrial market. A lot of those users thought that you could only go east to the Inland Empire,” DeGrinis, senior EVP at Colliers International and one of the brokers on the deal, tells GlobeSt.com. “The L’Oreal move indicate that there is an alternative available to the market. We are seeing more companies look into Kern County, and because Tejon is the first stop, we are getting a lot of that interest.”