Prologis Lands 217 KSF Tenant in the Inland Empire

1175 E. Francis St. Image courtesy of Savills

Onus Global Fulfillment Solutions has signed a 217,258-square-foot lease for a warehouse and distribution facility in the Inland Empire. The lease covers the entire property at 1175 E. Francis St. in Ontario, Calif.

Onus will use its new home as a regional logistics center due to its easy access to ports in both Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. The industrial property is equipped with dock doors, high clearance and modern truck and trailer access for Onus’ freight management and e-commerce needs, according to Savills’ Senior Managing Director Dillon Dummit.

Savills’ Dummit and Jeff Cecil, corporate managing director, represented Onus and provided the company with operational planning, supply chain and logistics analyses and financial strategy. JLL’s Patrick Wood and Scott Coyle represented the landlord, Prologis, which also has two industrial buildings underway in Vernon, Calif., some 35 miles to the east.

As for Onus, this is their second property in Southern California. The company also operates a 180,000-square-foot warehouse at 9400 Santa Fe Springs Blvd. in Santa Fe Springs.

The Inland Empire’s Development Spree

The area remains one of the country’s strongest industrial markets, with development going strong across San Bernardino and Riverside counties. According to Yardi Matrix data, the Inland Empire had 28 industrial projects under construction as of early September, totaling roughly 14.5 million square feet of upcoming new stock. Developers have brought online a whopping 31.3 million square feet of industrial space across the Inland Empire since the beginning of 2018, the data provider also shows. 

Despite the development spree and trade war tensions impacting import volumes, the area continues to display strong fundamentals, Cushman & Wakefield’s second-quarter industrial report for the Inland Empire shows. Leasing activity jumped 55.4 percent quarter-over-quarter to 13.9 million square feet, while vacancy dropped 50 basis points since last year’s second quarter, to a healthy 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, rents continued to rise, with the average reaching $0.70 per square foot. 

According to the same Cushman & Wakefield report, the Ontario submarket, which had an overall vacancy rate of just 1.7% as of this year’s second quarter, also had almost 3.8 million square feet of industrial space underway.