Strength of South Bay on Show in Industrial Deal

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One of the largest South Bay industrial sites to hit the market in more than a decade sold last week for $31.4 million, or $31 a square foot, according to brokerage CBRE.

The 23.4-acre parcel on the Alameda Corridor in Lynwood was picked up by Terreno Realty Corp., a San Francisco industrial real estate investment trust.

Insurance firm Travelers Indemnity Co. owns two buildings on the site as part of its long-term ground lease for 19 acres and leases them to pharmaceutical manufacturer PL Developments Inc. and logistics company Midas Express Inc. Cargill Inc. leases the remaining space, including a couple of small warehouses.

CBRE agent Robert Flores, who represented the seller, Lynwood-Alameda Corp., said the business was owned by a family that picked up the site in the mid-1900s. CBRE’s Andrew Briner assisted in the transaction. Terreno represented itself.

Lynwood-Alameda is registered at a Montebello address shared by Desser Tire & Rubber Co. Steven Chlavin is listed as chief executive at Lynwood-Alameda and president at Desser. Chlavin did not return a call seeking comment.

“Terreno was attracted by the unique opportunity to acquire almost 24 acres of land in the tightest industrial submarket in the United States,” said Flores.

The South Bay, with 205 million square feet of industrial property, hit a vacancy rate of 0.8 percent in the first quarter, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

Beyond its size, the Lynwood site is unique because it offers access to one of the only private rail spurs on the Alameda Corridor, which Cargill uses to distribute corn starch and syrup throughout the West Coast.

The $31-a-square-foot price tag is roughly on par with other recent industrial land sales in the South Bay: AES Corp. purchased a 7-acre parcel in Long Beach for $34 a square foot in 2014, while Prologis acquired a 10-acre parcel in Carson for $33 a square foot in 2013. Trammell Crow Co. picked up nearly 60 acres in Compton for $14.40 a square foot in 2014 and built warehouses now leased to United Parcel Service Inc. and Best Buy Co. Inc.

Switching Base

For a quarter-century, private equity real estate firm American Realty Advisors made its home in Glendale. Now it’s hopping to downtown with a 10-year lease for about 39,500 square feet on the 49th floor of CommonWealth Partners’ City National Plaza. ARA Chief Executive Stanley Iezman said the firm will join a cluster of real estate businesses in the area.

“You have the major players in Southern California in a three- or four-block radius,” he said.

Century City boasts a similar concentration of real estate-related businesses, but Iezman opted against the Westside because some employees could be priced out of housing there.

“We wanted an area that would be able to attract the backroom talent,” he said.

ARA employs 75 people at its Glendale headquarters and aims to grow. The firm has $8 billion of assets under management tied to institutional investors.

With a variety of office options downtown, Iezman said, ARA chose to land at Fifth and Flower streets for a more vibrant street scene than the corporate feel of Bunker Hill.

“Energy doesn’t go vertical, energy comes from horizontal,” he said.

Moving Out

Cushman & Wakefield signed a 12-year lease to occupy the 24th and 25th floors of downtown’s Wilshire Grand Center, the real estate services firm confirmed last week. It plans to relocate from the Figueroa at Wilshire building across the street in October.

The company was already tied to the 1,100-foot-high Wilshire Grand – the tallest building in the West – as its leasing agent. The Business Journal previously reported that Cushman planned to nab space in the skyscraper alongside owner Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd., which is slated to take one floor. The Southern California Association of Governments was close to signing a lease for two floors, said sources close to the deal.

If those moves are completed, 11 floors of office space would remain available. Cushman’s space will span 34,456 square feet – smaller than its current block of 53,000 square feet, but meant to be used more efficiently and provide for growth.

Staff reporter Daina Beth Solomon can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8337.

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