$26M in Industrial Deals Fill 544,000 SF

SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA-Tenants and buyers have closed on more than 544,000 of industrial deals here and elsewhere in the L.A. Basin that are valued at an aggregate of more than $26 million. In the largest of the leases, a maker of a variety of consumer goods, a third-party maker of a variety of consumer goods, Alticor/Access Business Group of Ada, MI, has inked a lease for a 155,484-square-foot manufacturing, assembly and distribution facility at the 5.4 million-square-foot Golden Springs Business Center.

The Alticor building is at 12825 Leffingwell, where the company signed a seven-year lease valued at more than $7 million, according to executive vice president Clyde Stauff of the Irvine office of Colliers International. Stauff represented landlord Golden Springs Development Co. of Santa Fe Springs along with EVP Stephen Calhoun of Colliers' Commerce office. Stauff says that the Golden Springs location is ideal for the tenant because it is a short distance from Alticor's existing Buena Park operation and offers very low common area maintenance charges. The tenant was represented by Paul Sablock and Greg Matter of Jones Lang La Salle.

The new Alticor facilility is in the Mid-Counties industrial market, also sometimes referred to as the Mid-Cities submarket, which includes a number of cities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The Mid-Counties industrial market performed surprisingly well in the second quarter, according to the latest Colliers market report, which noted that, for the first time in over two and a half years, the Mid Counties market posted positive net absorption of 171,000 square feet. "This is a surprise turnaround as the region shed 1.3 million square feet in the previous quarter," the Colliers report said. Vacancy rates for the Mid Counties industrial market fell 10 basis points to 6.3% for the quarter, down from 6.4% last quarter yet up from the 3.1% reported one year ago.

In another Santa Fe Springs lease, Voit Real Estate Services reports that Distinctive Industries Inc. signed for 43,000 square feet in a $2.2 million deal at 9419 Ann St. The tenant was represented by Brian McLoughlin of Voit's Anaheim Metro office and the landlord, Durabilt Properties, was represented by Cameron Driscoll and Luke McDaniel of the Anaheim Metro office.

In the City of Industry, Lee & Associates reports that an undisclosed buyer acquired an 81,250 square-foot industrial property at 20465 Walnut Dr. from Hager Pacific Properties for $6.59 million. The buyer was represented by Adam Dzierzynski and Dennis Keane of Lee’s City of Industry office. Hager Pacific was represented by Jack Cline and Peter Bacci of Lee Los Angeles, along with Kent Stalwick of CB Richard Ellis.

According to Dzierzynski, the buyer was searching for a similar-sized building to one being leased in the City of Industry. Dzierzynski said a sale like this is rare in the City of Industry, where buildings in this size and price range aren’t on the market very often.

In another Lee deal, in Ontario, a Los Angeles-based shoe sales and manufacturing company called Cels Enterprises Inc. bought a 264,717-square-foot industrial facility at 1251 Rockefeller Ave. for $10.7 million. Cels’s decision to obtain the property was "very much value-driven,” according to Jeff Smith of the Lee & Associates Ontario office, who represented the buyer along with Lee's John Seoane.

Cels intends to use the 23-year-old industrial facility as its national distribution center. The location of the property is ideal for Cels because the company conducts a large portion of its business with the Pacific Rim, according to Smith. He notes that the property not only met the buyer's physical and operational requirements but also offered potential value with its foreign trade zone.

Cels acquired the property from Arrow Electronics, which was represented by the Ontario and New York offices of CB Richard Ellis. Smith says the sale might be a sign of a thaw in the marketplace. “This building marks the low point for user sales of large facility space in the market’s West end,” he said. “Activity, in general, seems to be moving in a positive direction in this area, with expectation for price stability at a minimum with the probability of growth in size-specific subcategories.”