Top Industrial lease, sales and trends for 1st Quarter 1999

Top Lease Deals

1. Tatsumi Intermodal (USA), Inc. leased 113,735 sf at 19780 Pacific Gateway Drive in Torrance.

2. New Age Electronics leased 109,593 sf, 5 year lease at 21906 South Arnold Center Drive in Carson.

3. Leased 153,060 sf at 4240 West 190th Street in Torrance.

Top Sale Deals

1. D.F. Diessner Acquisitions Company purchased the Paramount Industrial Park in Paramount for $17 million. The park consists of 393,000 sf divided amongst 17 buildings.

2. Harold J. Belkin purchased 500-516 W. Florence Avenue in Inglewood. The 31,700 sf property was sold for an undisclosed amount.

3. Lynch Entertainment purchased 5900 Blackwelder Street in Culver City for $2.8 million. The property is 29,910 sf.

Top Trends

1. There is lack of airfreight space in the LAX market and surrounding areas. This has caused airfreight companies to move east of the 105. There is currently a moratorium in place for the cities of Hawthorne and Gardena. This moratorium prevents new construction of airfreight facilities and the occupancy of airfreight companies in buildings not currently used for airfreight. The moratorium was set in motion due to the incurred cost to the cities for servicing these companies and maintaining the roadways. Although the moratorium is still active, the airfreight industry remains strong.

2. Portfolio sales are still active, although not at the pace seen in the past two years. There is still an abundance of pension funds and other capital looking to be placed which has led to the purchase of “B” properties and the resale of previously purchased properties. Although unpredictable at this time, the portfolio sale frenzy should last well through 1999 and into the new millennia.

3. School age children in the South Bay area are increasing rapidly in number, leaving schools overcrowded. In the city of Hawthorne alone school age children are increasing by an annual rate of 7 percent. Cities are scrambling to find land anywhere from 3.0-acres to 20.0-acres to build new schools. Land previously zoned for commercial and industrial remain the prime targets in the search. The school districts require commercial and industrial land over residential because the cost differential can range between 4 and 6 times.