Privately Held Business Tops in County

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When Majestic Realty Co. began breaking ground on the first commercial buildings in the City of Industry, the area was still a rural outpost of hayfields and citrus groves.

More than a half-century later, the orange trees have been bulldozed and Majestic is the largest commercial property manager in the San Gabriel Valley industrial enclave, owning and managing about one-third of total industrial space.

Along the way, the company became the largest commercial real estate developer in Los Angeles County and one of the top privately held developers in the country.

“We own more industrial space in Los Angeles County than any other company,” said Kent Valley, senior vice president of Majestic.

Over the decades, Majestic has developed 47.2 million square feet and stretching into the Inland Empire and beyond to states such as Texas and Florida. It manages an even larger portfolio of 73 million square feet.

Founded in 1948 by Ed Roski Sr. as a real estate brokerage, the company expanded into developing build-to-suit facilities in the late 1950s, catching the postwar boom and just in time to enter the market in the newly incorporated City of Industry.

“We were probably the first developer to come into the area,” Valley said. “Back then, land prices were in the range of 50 cents per square foot.”

In 1973, the company tilted walls on a 300,000-square-foot facility, which was the largest spec building in L.A. County at the time. That’s nothing now. The average square footage of Majestic’s recent warehouses and distribution centers easily exceeds 500,000.

The company is in the process of building out the huge Grand Crossing business park on the far eastern end of Industry. When the park is completed it will top 6 million square feet.

The company is headed by son Ed Roski Jr., who joined his father’s business in 1966.



BEST DEVELOPER

Majestic Realty Co., City of Industry

Total Project Developed: 47.2 million square feet

L.A. County Projects: 37.7 million square feet

Key Fact: Ed Roski Jr., chairman and chief executive, is son of founder

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