In what Kidder Mathews said is the third-largest industrial sale in Los Angeles County this year to date, Dart Warehouse Corp., a sub-branch of Santa Monica-based Dedeaux Properties, has acquired an 882,000-square-foot distribution facility in Commerce for $190 million.

The largest industrial sale of the year was the $213 million property acquisition of the Port LA Distribution Center Portfolio in South Bay by GPIF. The second largest was the $210 million sale of the SFS Logistics Center in Mid-City. Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. was the buyer.

The Commerce industrial property is home to 99 Cents Only Stores’ distribution facility. The sale comes down to $237.50 per square foot. Located just east of downtown, the property sits on a 24-acre lot at 4000 Union Pacific Ave. and 4040 Noakes Ave. – immediately adjacent to the Hobart Intermodal Railyard, one of the most important transfer facilities of containerized cargo for the Port of Los Angeles.

“Over the years, we kept an eye on this property as a point of expansion for our East Los Angeles complex,” Terry Dedeaux, chairman of the board at Dart Warehouse Corp. and a partner of Dedeaux Properties, said in a statement. “This substantially increases our footprint for both our property partners as well as our logistics partners.”

The facility is located within a gate-guarded campus, in which Dedeaux controls over 2 million square feet of additional logistics properties. 

“The Dedeaux family of companies have been investing and operating in this market for more than 60 years, and this property has been on our radar for a long time,” said Brett Dedeaux, president and managing member of Dedeaux Properties.

The acquisition was conducted by a short-term sale leaseback – an agreement in which the company that sells an asset, in this case 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, can lease back that same asset from the purchaser, Dart Warehouse Corp. 

Dart Warehouse Corp. is looking into “numerous alternatives” for what to do with the property once the 99 Cents Only Stores lease expires, according to Brett Dedeaux.

He mentioned the possibility of redevelopment of the site, which would include two of Dedeaux’s adjacent buildings totaling 400,000 square feet of land, to create a giant distribution campus with trailer parking, secured access and privatized streets.

“This acquisition completes a vision my father, Rod Dedeaux, held since the inception of Dart Warehouse Corp. in 1960,” Terry Dedeaux said.

Jack Cline of downtown-based commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates, in conjunction with New York-based global real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured, facilitated the sale.