Compton Deal Sustains Industrial Pickup Pace

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The sale last month of a 152,000-square-foot Compton industrial building, fully leased to Kroger Co.’s Ralphs and Food4Less divisions, was yet another spark in a particularly hot market.

Industrial Income Trust Inc., a Denver real estate investment trust focused on distribution warehouses, bought the property at 1200 W. Artesia Blvd. from Amir Development in an off-market deal. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but brokers estimate the value at about $14 million. Amir bought the property in 1993 for $4.9 million, according to CoStar Group Inc.

The deal is among the latest of more than 800 industrial sales in Los Angeles County this year, according to CoStar. At about $92 a square foot, it is about midmarket for the Compton area this year.

The property, just eight miles from the Port of Los Angeles, is near the State Route 91 corridor and features freeway frontage.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s Zac Sakowski, who represented the buyer, said Industrial Income Trust is targeting industrial properties in infill locations near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The trust already owns property in Torrance, Bell Gardens and Santa Fe Springs.

“The amount of product that trades here compared to the Inland Empire is scarce, so the opportunity to purchase in these markets is lean,” he said. “They saw this as a great chance to round out their existing portfolio.”

The L.A. industrial market continues to experience strong fundamentals. Second quarter vacancy was 5.1 percent, with asking rents averaging 57 cents a square foot, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Barry Hill also represented the buyer. Amir represented itself.

Networking Lease

TP-Link USA Corp. is moving its U.S. headquarters to San Dimas.

The Chinese wireless networking product maker signed a more than three-year lease to move its U.S. offices to a 52,000-square-foot industrial warehouse at 975 Overland Court with landlords Peer Properties-2 and RDS Investment Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal was estimated at $1 million.

TP-Link will move from a 15,000-square-foot building at 117 N. Sunset Ave. in the City of Industry.

The newly leased building is in San Dimas Corporate Park, near the 210 and 57 freeways. It is surrounded by 2.5 acres of open land, and has more than 7,000 square feet of office space and 32-foot ceiling clearance in the warehouse.

TP-Link sells its networking products online and in stores through retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Fry’s Electronics Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

CBRE Group Inc.’s Jason Chao, who represented the company in the deal, said that TP-Link needed expansion space.

“This property met all of the needs of our client,” Chao said in a statement. “It’s easily accessible to major freeways, centrally located among the high-image corporate park of San Dimas, nearby to retail amenities and the physical aspects of the building are ideal for their distribution needs.”

CBRE’s Lynn Knox and Kent Stalwick represented the landlords.

Delinquency Declines

Los Angeles County homeowners are getting better about paying their mortgages on time.

The county’s residential mortgage delinquency rate, a measure of those who are 60 or more days past due on their mortgage payments, fell more than two points in the second quarter to 3.6 percent, down from 5.9 percent in the year-ago period, according to a TransUnion analysis released last week. It was the 14th consecutive quarter of decline for the region.

The average mortgage debt held by a borrower in the county was $354,396, down from $359,459 in the year-ago quarter.

The county’s past-due rate matched the statewide level. California’s rate declined to 3.6 percent, down from 6.1 percent a year ago, and was the country’s second largest year-over-year decline behind Arizona. The state still has the second-highest average mortgage debt in the country, at $324,197 per borrower, despite falling about $5,000.

The local and state delinquency rates bested the national delinquency rate of 4.1 percent last quarter. The nation saw only a 1.4 percent decline year over year; its average mortgage debt declined slightly as well, dropping about $700 to $187,635.

Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.

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