TEJON RANCH, CA-Caterpillar Logistics Inc. has bought 46 acres of land at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, where the tractor giant plans to build a 400,000-square-foot parts distribution facility to serve both dealers and customers throughout California and the Western US.

The price was undisclosed and difficult to estimate, because few land sales of scale have occurred recently in Kern County, although unimproved land has sold in the county for about $5 per square foot, according to Real Capital Analytics.

The large parcel partly reflects Caterpillar’s need to store its farming machinery, according to Joseph Drew, of Tejon Ranch Co., which owns the 425-square-mile industrial development 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Bakersfield. “Their equipment is pretty muscular and needs land for outside storage,” the senior vice president of real estate for Tejon Ranch.