GLP Acquires Orange County Warehouse for $156M
Sale of 406K SF industrial asset, leased to FedEx, is OC's most lucrative deal this year.
Warehouses continue to generate pricey deals in Southern California. The latest is GLP Capital Partners acquisition of a 406K SF warehouse from Swiss Re Group, the Zurich-based insurer, for $156M.
The property is located at 458-486 East Lambert Road in Fullerton. The deal, which translates into $384 per SF is the priciest in Orange County this year, according to a report in the Orange County Business Journal.
Swiss Re, one of the largest global reinsurers bought the 18.6-acre parcel in 2014.
The OC warehouse has been leased for the past 10 years to FedEx, which takes about 160K SF of the building, and NorCal Beverage, which takes the rest.
The Fullerton warehouse is in proximity to the Beckman Business Center, a 1M SF distribution campus developed in 2019 by Western Realco. The Beckman complex was sold for $180M.
Until this transaction was announced, the priciest industrial trade in Orange County last occurred in June 2021, when an affiliate of CBRE Global Investors bought an Amazon distribution center from Menlo Equities for $181M, which translates to $457 per square foot.
The Goodman Logistics Center Fullerton, a 1.5M SF logistics campus, being built on the site of a former manufacturing plant for Kimberly-Clark, is the largest new logistics hub under construction in Orange County. The property is being redeveloped by Goodman North America.
Direct vacancies fell in Q3 to 1.9% in Orange County. Average asking rents climbed 40% to a market average of $1.58/SF on a triple net basis, a new record high, according to Kidder Mathews Q3 Orange County industrial market report.
“In light of recent supply chain disruptions as e-commerce tenants look for warehouses to store their items, the strength of the Orange County industrial market has been bolstered by its proximity to crucial Inland Empire thoroughfares and ports in Los Angeles County,” the market report stated.
“Tenant mobility has changed as a result, with 133K SF more being absorbed in the 3Q 2022.The Orange County industrial market is also benefitting from the lack of available product in other submarkets such as the Inland Empire and the Mid-Counties,” Kidder Mathews report said.
Orange County is one of the nation’s most supply-constrained metros due to its infill market and lack of undeveloped industrial property; more than 3.1M SF of new space is presently being built there, according to the report.