Homes to Be Razed to Make Way for Inland Empire Warehouses

Howard Industrial Partners has won approval to build three warehouses encompassing 2.1M SF in a rural town in the Inland Empire, in another defeat for NIMBY opponents of warehouse sprawl in the tightest industrial market in the US.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved the Bloomington Business Park, a project that has been stymied for several years, on a site that will require the demolition of more 265 housing units in the town of Bloomington, according to a report in the San Bernardino Sun.

The 213-acre project will be built on land previously zoned for low-density and very-low-density single-family homes. The company is planning to build three buildings encompassing 1.25M SF, 479K SF and 383K SF, respectively.

The warehouses will be operated seven days a week in two eight-hour shifts, the Sun reported.

Howard convinced the board to approve the project by offering $20M in new infrastructure, including a new sheriff’s office in Bloomington. The project will generate $10.7M in one-time fees for the town and $1.8M in annual fees, the report said.

The 265 units being razed to make way for the business park will be replaced at 72-acre site in Bloomington with 480 apartments.

The proposed development provoked a fierce battle with community activists, including a group called Concerned Neighbors of Bloomfield, who said the county was planting an industrial project in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

The Inland Empire has the densest as well as the tightest industrial market in the US: the overall warehouse footprint in the two-county region that stretches from the LA city limits to the Arizona border is estimated to be more than 2B SF, most of which has been filled close to capacity since the end of 2021.

As industrial space for 1M SF big-box warehouses has dwindled to a diminishing number of infill sites in the western half of Inland Empire, new warehouse construction has moved to the east and to the north, where it is encountering increasing resistance from residents, city councils and environmental groups.

Warehouse moratoriums have been proposed in more than a dozen communities in the Inland Empire, with advocates citing truck traffic that has made the region a national leader in air pollution.

At the close of the third quarter, historically tight market conditions continue to exist throughout the Inland Empire despite overall economic uncertainty, according to Colliers Q3 industrial market report.

Vacancies measured 0.7% in Q3. Total new leasing activity ticked up 15% to 11.7M SF due to several large transactions over 1M SF.

Inland Empire rent growth continues surge: average asking rents posted a new record high rate of $1.56 NNN, a 58% jump from 12 months ago. Average asking rents in the East have doubled in 24 months, while rents in the West are up 116% over the same period.