The company bought two assets for $32 million already and is targeting properties throughout Southern California, according to Steve Briggs, principal and portfolio manager, but the fund will concentrate on some of L.A. County's largest industrial markets, namely the City of Commerce, City of Industry, Mid-Cities and the South Bay. It's looking for a range of single industrial buildings and larger institutional multi-tenant properties at values from $5 to $30 million, Briggs says.

The fund's first two purchases were Canyon Corporate Center in Anaheim and 2100 East Valencia in Fullerton. Canyon Corporate Center is a class A, four-building development totaling 215,682 sf of light manufacturing and warehouse space. The Fullerton property is a 268,612-sf class A warehouse and light manufacturing facility.

The Layton-Belling fund is further evidence of what commercial real estate brokers describe as a continued high level of investor interest in industrial properties. Large institutional investors see industrial properties as a safer bet than some other property types in a sluggish economy, brokers say, and industrial vacancy rates have remained relatively low throughout much of Southern California.