Two Inland Industrial Leases Near 1M SF

FONTANA, CA-Two large users of industrial distribution space have signed leases for a total of more than 970,000 sf in two separate deals, one here and one in Chino, both brokered by CB Richard Ellis. In the larger of the two, Dorel Juvenile Group Inc. signed for 528,440 sf in a building on Calabash Avenue.The other lease is a deal for 442,000 sf at Chino South Business Park, where Young's Market Co. has signed a 10-year lease with an option to buy.Dorel Juvenile, which markets the Cosco and Safety 1st brands of children's products in the US, signed a three-year lease valued at $6.65 million that represents a significant expansion of the company's local operations. Dorel was represented by Frank Geraci, Walt Chenoweth and Dan De la Paz of the Ontario office of CB Richard Ellis, who also represented Young's Market Co. in the Chino transaction.Dorel occupies two other buildings in the area, and with all three facilities the company will employ more than 200 workers in the Inland Empire. Dorel's new building, owned by CB Richard Ellis Investors, is a recently completed facility that includes large, secured truck yards and 120 dock-high loading doors. Neighboring industrial tenants include Walmart, Exel, Sports Authority, Kelloggs and SMC.In the Chino transaction, Young's Market Co., one of the West Coast's largest fine wine and spirits distributors, signed for its space in an industrial building at 6711 Bickmore Ave. The company signed a 10-year lease with an option to buy, which it anticipates exercising within the first year of the lease according to the CBRE brokers.The building is under construction in the Chino South Business Park, a development of the Carson Cos. Young's expects to move in by the middle of 2006, relocating its existing operations from Ontario. The company expects to employ 125 workers eventually at the site.Young's was looking for a central location in Southern California that provided convenient access to the ports, according to Chenoweth. He adds that the deal was also driven by timing because the tenant needed to find a building that would be ready for occupancy in a relatively short time.Chenoweth noted that the timing worked to the tenant's advantage because construction had already begun on the building when the lease was executed. That meant that construction costs were set, which "allowed the tenant to avoid any risk of having to absorb potential construction cost increases, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which has had an on-going impact on increasing costs," Chenoweth observes.