LA VERNE, CA—Industrial users from the Downtown Los Angeles market, particularly in the arts district, are migrating to the Vernon market, according to Jack Cline, SVP in Lee & Associates Central LA office. Cline talked to us exclusively about the industrial trends this year in the Central Los Angeles market, where he noted the influx of new users migrating from downtown that are putting extreme upward pressure on prices.

“The migration from downtown arts district is continuing to put pressure on prices primarily in Vernon and secondarily in Commerce, which are the two largest industrial markets in the Central Los Angeles market,” Cline tells GlobeSt.com. That isn't to say, however, that absorption rates are dropping in the downtown market, just changing. “You are seeing a lot of converted uses. What was an industrial application is now being priced out, and the users are finding new facilities in adjacent or nearby submarkets,” Cline says.

This group of migrating users isn't alone. According to Cline, the market saw a wealth of new users this year, including ethnic food providers and true art users. These users, particularly the art users, can occupy the older industrial product in the market that is too outdated for the more corporate industrial type users, but still much newer than the facilities available in the Downtown area. Another new user type to appear on the Vernon scene this year were the retail users. “The apparel business is revived and I think this will be another push in our markets as they grow smaller concepts into larger concepts,” says Cline. “Without a doubt, this is a very entrepreneurial tenant base that has either been in the market and has been expanding or they are new to the market but still very entrepreneurial and very migratory.”