Compton Industrial Space Completely Leased

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Brickyard South Bay in Compton, Calif.

Best Buy Co. has signed a 10-year lease for 479,310 square feet at Brickyard South Bay in Compton, Calif., a building being developed by Clarion Partners LLC and Trammell Crow Co., and leased by CBRE.

United Parcel Service signed a 10-year, 521,816-square-foot lease last September. Both transactions rank among the top industrial leases ever signed in Los Angeles County based on total lease consideration.

“UPS took more than 500,000 square feet of space at the Brickyard in September. Now, Best Buy is taking up the rest,” Bret Quinlan, executive vice president and co-leader of the CBRE Global Port Logistics Group, told Commercial Property Executive. “These two mega leases clearly justify speculative development in markets where there is a particular high demand for speedy delivery and little product to fulfill that ever-increasing need.”

The site’s two Class A, LEED Gold-certified buildings sit at 1701 N. Central Ave. and 1430 N. McKinley Ave., and feature a total of 199 dock doors and about 577 auto parking spaces. The buildings’ 36-foot ceiling height provide as much as 20 percent more storage capacity when compared with conventional 32-foot-tall industrial buildings.

The space underwent some renovations for Best Buy’s distribution needs, including installing dock equipment and lighting in the warehouse. Best Buy will supply large products, including big-screen TVs and major appliances, from that facility to stores as well as for home delivery. Overall, there will be approximately 60 employees at the site.

Clarion and Trammel Crow transformed the 58-acre site, a former brick manufacturing facility, into a state-of-the art industrial facility. Compton, where the Brickyard is located, is often referred to as ‘Hub City,’ due to its unique position of being almost exactly the geographical center of LA County.

“This property is of very high quality and significant size, especially given its location in the middle of Los Angeles,” Quinlan said. “It’s located close to the second-largest population center in the U.S. and just sits south of downtown, east of LAX and north of the nation’s two biggest ports. It’s an ideal location.”