Duke Realty Inks Full-Building Inland Empire Lease

728 W. Rider St. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

Lecangs LLC has signed a full-building lease with Duke Realty Corp. for an upcoming 1.2 million-square-foot industrial facility in Perris, Calif. The tenant is the logistics arm of Locteck Corp., an ergonomic workstation manufacturer. Cushman & Wakefield arranged the agreement on behalf of the landlord, while Colliers International and AZ Realty & Investment Corp. represented the tenant.  

The Class A speculative project broke ground in November last year and is slated for completion by the end of this month. Sitting on more than 55 acres at 728 W. Rider St., the cross-dock building features 40-foot clear heights, 241 loading doors, five drive-in doors and 13,000 square feet of office space. The facility also has 344 trailer parking spaces and 442 auto parking spaces. The property was designed to meet LEED certification standards.

Situated just off Interstate 215, the distribution center is 80 miles from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and 83 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport.

Vice Chairmen Chuck Belden and Phil Lombardo led the Cushman & Wakefield team involved in the deal. Colliers Senior Executive Vice President Ian DeVries and Vice President Chris Devries worked with Jennifer Whelan from AZ Realty & Investment.

Trying to keep up with demand

Duke’s property is one of the largest industrial projects underway in the Inland Empire. The full-building prelease agreement shortly before the facility completion is reflective of the high demand for well-positioned industrial space in Greater Los Angeles. 

In October, industrial vacancy in the Inland Empire stood at a mere 1 percent, a recent CommercialEdge report shows, the tightest vacancy rate nationwide by a long shot and 490 basis points lower than the national average. Despite having more than 22 million square feet of industrial space under development in October, construction activity is unlikely to keep up with rapid absorption, spurred by bustling activity at the region’s ports.

A clear indication of this can be seen in the market’s rent growth, which hit 6.6 percent year-over-year through October, with rates at an average of $6.45 per square foot. The asking price is still more affordable than the average Los Angeles rent, which stood at $10.20 per square foot.