Big Box Demand Drives Inland Empire Activity

Big box demand has helped to prop up industrial activity in the Inland Empire during the pandemic. A new report from JLL shows positive net absorption, rising asking rents and a 4.1% vacancy rate in the second quarter, even as the pandemic roared on. Big box activity was largely the force behind the market activity.

“The strong Inland Empire industrial performance makes perfect sense when you think about it because that is where all the essential goods are stored,” Mike McCrary, managing director at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “People need toilet paper, toothpaste and unsexy daily needs items. Additionally, with this crisis, more generations are being forced and accustom to using ecommerce, which is also factoring into the growth. Since mid-March the percent of the population ordering goods online has gone from about 15 percent to around 26 percent, which is expected to continue to grow. Additionally, according to Forbes, online orders as a whole are up about around 146 percent year-to-date through May in the U.S. and Canada.”