CenterPoint Buys Inland Empire Facility

2777 E. Cedar St.

CenterPoint Properties has acquired a 108,616-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, Calif., from KGP Logistics, continuing its streak of industrial acquisitions in Southern California. The latest deal brings CenterPoint’s footprint in the region to more than 7.7 million square feet across 65 properties.

The nine-acre property at 2777 E. Cedar St. is near the Ontario International Airport and 55 miles east of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. 

According to a permit request filed with the City of Ontario Development Advisory Board last year, the former owner planned to build a 71,667-square-foot extension to the facility on the 3.5 acres of excess land. CenterPoint has announced it will use the undeveloped portion to create additional parking spaces. The company is also planning extensive renovations to the 1990-built warehouse. The single-story building currently offers 11 dock-high loading doors, 145-foot truck courts and 60 parking spaces, CommercialEdge data shows.

A Lee & Associates team including John Seoane and Tom Walrich represented the buyer in the transaction.

Strategic investments

Last year, CenterPoint added 13 properties to its Southern California portfolio. The transactions included a three-property portfolio in Long Beach, Ontario, and La Verne. The company was looking to expand in the Inland Empire market after concentrating most of its investments in the Los Angeles area over the last two years, Ashley Vanacore, CenterPoint’s Investment Officer in the West Region, said in prepared remarks.

The moves comes at a time when demand for logistics facilities in the Inland Empire is peaking. As of December, the market had only 0.9 percent of industrial space available—the tightest vacancy rate nationwide by a long stretch. Unsurprisingly, the Inland Empire leads the way for rent increases, with a 6.3 percent change in the asking price year-over-year through December.

Other companies are also eyeing the Southern California hub. Just recently, Duke Realty Corp. announced it started work on six speculative buildings in the Inland Empire and Orange County. Once completed, the facilities will bring 1.5 million square feet of much-needed industrial space to the market.