Ecommerce demand and the need to fulfill on fast-shipping expectations has led to a recent flurry of industrial lease deals.
Wholesale furniture manufacturer Homelegance LA Inc. signed a lease for a 60,000-square-foot industrial property at 230 W. Rosecrans Ave. in Gardena. The freestanding building has eight docks and a large fenced yard.
“The yard space was highly desirable,” said Kevin Romano, a senior associate at Inco Commercial Brokerage. “A lot of trucking companies need the space for their trailers, and I think that we were priced right in the market.”
The space, one of the only buildings of its size available in the area, leased for its asking price of 94 cents per square foot. Inco Commercial Brokerage and Okula Commercial represented owner Kirshner/Slauson in the lease. InterPres represented Homelegance.
Romano said that within two weeks of listing the property, the group received five offers. Homelegance signed the lease within three weeks of the property being listed. Romano added that the area is more lenient than others when it comes to zoning, which makes properties there more desirable.
Punch Studio, which occupies the space, is moving to a larger location at 13217 S. Figueroa St. in Harbor Gateway. Punch signed a lease in May for the new property, which has double the square footage of its Gardena space.
Homelegance is one of many companies competing for limited industrial space in L.A.’s tight market. During the second quarter, the industrial vacancy rate for L.A. County was a scant 1.9% — down from 2.2% the previous quarter, according to data from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Roughly 11.8 million square feet of industrial space sold or leased during the quarter, up from 9.3 million square feet the previous quarter.
Many developers are trying to capitalize on the tightening market. During the second quarter, nearly 6 million square feet of industrial space was under construction.
New Jersey-based warehouse and distribution company Packaging & Distribution Resources recently opened a new 22,000-square-foot warehouse in Commerce. PDR, which does third party logistics for more than 70 clients, plans to grow by 100,000 square feet in L.A. in the next three years.
“Our client-partners’ e-commerce inventories will now be stored closer to their retail and e-tail customers for more efficient delivery times and cost-effective logistics,” Jack Sandbach, chief executive and founder of PDR, said in a statement. “With this expansion, PDR also becomes an asset to international brands that want to launch in the U.S.”