Prologis has formed a joint venture partnership with Stirling Development. As part of the partnership, Prologis will take a 50% capital stake in all Stirling Capital investments, including the Southern California Logistics Airport, an 8,500-acre multimodal freight transportation hub with air, ground and rail connections. The project, which will be developed and managed by Stirling, includes a 2,500-acre commercial and industrial complex entitled for 60 million square feet of development. This announcement follows Prologis' merger with DCT.

“For us, this was a confirmation and reset of a deal we did several years ago with DCT. When Prologis acquired DCT late last year, our partnership with DCT was one of the assets that Prologis acquired,” Dougall Agan, CEO at Stirling Development, tells GlobeSt.com. “During Prologis's due diligence they realized the 12 years of successful partnership that Stirling had with DCT was a great testament of the success of our SCLA project and bolstered Prologis' interest to continue in this venture. Prologis understands the benefit of having a lead position of developable land in the pipeline. Coupled with their extensive tenant portfolio, Prologis determined that this position was highly likely to produce great development opportunities going forward into the long term. With Inland Empire industrial land quickly becoming absorbed, Victorville is well positioned to provide workable, cost effective solutions for businesses to expand.”

The partnership has bolstered the already exciting Southern California Logistics Airport project. Specifically, Prologis will accelerate the timeline for the project while maintaining Stirling's original vision. “Our vision remains the same, but really has become much stronger,” says Brian Parno, COO at Stirling, tells GlobeSt.com. “The vision involves the long-term combination of a variety of transportation modes coming together in an effective industrial business community, creating a workable solution to the high cost of the Los Angeles basin for core industry. A business community that is close to a strong employee market, yet just far enough away so as not to combine residential and recreation areas amongst a thriving business and industrial park.  The Prologis partnership should serve to accelerate the pace of development at SCLA. With their combined capital strength and tenant relationships, we are confident that our deal flow will increase noticeably in the near term, but we are planning to be involved for the long term.” In addition to the airport, Stirling plans to develop another 20 million square feet of industrial space as part of the project over the long term. Prologis sees the benefit of the land opportunities. “This current phase of development, with Prologis as our partner, will be focused on expanding and maximizing our current footprint,” says Agan. The partnership identifies the tremendous value proposition for users to locate at SCLA.”