Watson Land Plans 3M-SF Industrial Complex

REDLANDS, CA-Watson Land Co. of Carson plans to begin construction next year on the 73-acre, 1.5-million-sf first phase of a 100-acre industrial project called Watson Commerce Center. The development, which will add to a growing Watson Land portfolio in the Inland Empire, is slated for a site in unincorporated San Bernardino County in a master-planned business park along the Interstate 10 Freeway.The site spans the northeast and southeast corners of California Street and San Bernardino Avenue, which in addition to the 10 Freeway connects to the I-60, I-91 and I-215 freeways. Craig Halverson, VP of acquisitions for Watson Land Co., says the developer is completing site planning and expects to begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2006.The first phase will include three buildings of 400,000 sf, 500,000 sf and 600,000 sf. Construction of phase one is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2007, with plans for the remaining 27 acres now being developed.Halverson notes that the Inland Empire, where developers and users have been building some of the largest warehouses in the country for about a dozen years, "has become the industrial location of choice for many corporate users and major logistics operations."Watson's Inland Empire holdings include the Watson Commerce Center-Fontana, a 652,174-sf industrial project on 32-acres. With the development of the Redlands site, the company's Inland Empire industrial portfolio will total approximately five million sf.Watson develops its industrial space as "Legacy Buildings," a brand that it has created to describe its flexible, class A facilities. It markets the Legacy Buildings as structures that can be designed to work equally well for manufacturing or distribution companies.