Rockefeller Group, a New
York-based commercial real estate developer whose western U.S. operations are
based out of Irvine, continues to be bullish on the Inland Empire industrial
market.
The company best
known for developing Rockefeller Center in New York City recently closed on 30
acres in Riverside with development plans already underway to build a
two-building distribution center topping 600,000 square feet.
Rockefeller is
planning to break ground this month on the project, which will include two
industrial speculative distribution buildings totaling 289,944 square feet and
333,553 square feet, respectively.
Newcastle Ties
It
paid nearly $20 million for the site from Newcastle Partners, which entitled
the property prior to the sale.
It is the second recent deal
between the two companies; Rockefeller last year bought an 8.8-acre parcel in
Moreno Valley from Newcastle, which operates locally out of Corona.
Rockefeller
recently wrapped construction at that site, which now holds the 203,944-square-foot
Centerpointe Commerce Center.
Rockefeller Group
is excited to begin development on our next two projects within the thriving
Inland Empire East submarket,James Camp, senior vice president and regional
development officer for Rockefellers West Region.
Camps career in
Orange Countys commercial real estate industry includes prior stints at
Greenlaw Partners and Voit Development Co., among others. In 2018, he was
president of the SoCal Chapter of NAIOP.
Rockefeller plans
to wrap construction on the project by next spring.
Newport
Beach-based RM Dalton is the general contractor; Lee & Associates will
handle leasing efforts.
Prior Deal
This is the second
notable deal this year for the firm in the Inland Empire.
In January,
Rockefeller paired with Irvine-based MBK Real Estate LLC to buy a 13.8-acre
site in Fontana for $15.7 million, where it is building a 297,161-square-foot
industrial facility.
Rockefeller
previously partnered with MBK with the construction of Optimus Logistics
Center, a 1.5-million-square-foot industrial facility in Perris that wrapped in
2018.
That $120 million
project sold out at the start of 2019.
We are seeing a
continued decline in vacancy and strong gross and net absorption rates in the
Inland Empire region, said Marc Berg, Rockefellers vice president and
regional director in the Western Region.
We will complete
construction of these two new buildings at a time when few buildings of similar
size are anticipated to be on the market and when tenant demand is expected to
be high.
Market Trends
Industrial
transactions continue to fare better than other commercial sectors as of late,
with the e-commerce sector driving demand.
Orange County also
appears to be on better footing than most U.S. markets, with industrial rents
expected to grow 33% over the next five years, an average of 6.6% per year,
according to CBRE Group data.
Thats the
fourth-greatest appreciation among U.S. industrial markets� trailing Los
Angeles, Louisville, and New York City.
Growth in the
market is driven by the markets infill supply and last-mile positioning CBRE notes.
[ Posted October, 12th 2020 ]