VALENCIA, CA—Developer IAC has broken ground on a 1.3-million-square-foot industrial facility called the IAC Commerce Center. The construction project will be completed in three phases. The first phase, underway now, is a 400,000-square-foot building on 70 acres.

“The Valencia market is experiencing record sub 2% vacancies, and strong demand for space,” Craig Peters, a broker at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “Valencia attracts companies from the San Fernando Valley, only 10 minutes south of the project. The San Fernando Valley is also experiencing record low vacancies, at 1%.  This supply/demand imbalance means the new industrial product, like IAC Commerce Center, will be in high demand.” CBRE has been retained as an exclusive leasing agent for the property.

While the high demand will likely attract many potential tenants, the facility's class-A design and amenities will also aid in attracting quality tenants. The amenities include 30-foot clear heights, an ESFR sprinkler systems and great truck loading. “There are very few class-A industrial buildings available in the North Los Angeles County market, so these buildings will allow companies to be much more efficient and productive,” says Peters.

The San Fernando Valley market is home to many distribution, assembly and manufacturing companies in nearly every industrial type, and it is these companies that Peters plans to target for IAC Commerce Center. For example, Mole Richardson Co., an entertainment equipment supplier recently signed a 108,000-square-foot lease in the area. Peters expects to see strong activity when construction is underway. “We expect significant interest from a number of consumer products distribution companies as well as the primary industry clusters—aerospace/defense, entertainment, biotech and technology,” Peters says.