Collectibles Store Signs 116K SF Lease at Former Sam’s Club in LA
Property will be used for retail business that is made up of several vendors
By Greg Cornfield November 26, 2019 7:44 pm
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Frank & Son Collectible Show, a Los Angeles-based collectibles store, has signed a 10-year lease to take over a former Sam’s Club in the City of Industry.
The 116,000-square-foot property at 17835 Gale Avenue was originally built in 1987 and formerly housed a Sam’s Club grocery store. Frank & Son, which has operated in Los Angeles since 1988, will use the space for its retail business that is composed of dozens of vendors which specialize in collectibles like comic books, baseball trading cards, vintage toys and movie memorabilia.
CBRE (CBRE) announced the deal. A spokesperson declined to provide additional terms of the lease.
Janet Zamarripa, owner of Frank & Son Collectible Show, also declined to share specifics about the lease. Property records show the property is owned by Kornland Building, a commercial and industrial landlord whose registered address is in Bentonville, Ark. The firm also has an office in L.A., and currently owns about 30 properties in Southern California. Kornland is tied to Mark Kornwasser with Kornwasser & Associates, which declined to comment or confirm the deal.
CBRE’s Barclay Harty, Motti Farag and Annika Colombi represented the landlord. The tenant was represented by Adam Dzierzynski of Lee and Associates.
“This particular use of operation was not clearly defined within the zoning of the property, and the state required a zone change amendment to accommodate the unique use,” Harty said in prepared remarks. “City of Industry had not done such an amendment in a very long time, and it proved to be a new process for all parties involved. Fortunately, the city, tenant and landlord worked diligently throughout the process to achieve full approval in October.”
The property is adjacent to the State Route 60 freeway that connects City of Industry to both Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. Puente Hills Mall, which features dining, retail and entertainment is located directly across the freeway.
City of Industry is a 12-square-mile municipality in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County. It is home to thousands of businesses and jobs, but fewer than 500 residents. About 92 percent of the city is zoned for industrial use, and 8 percent for commercial, and it has become a popular landing spot for logistics and manufacturing firms.
In the third quarter of 2019, the Greater Los Angeles retail market’s negative 273,669 square feet of net absorption was attributed to small to mid-sized declines in nearly every submarket, according to a CBRE research report. There are 1.9 million square feet of retail space under construction in Greater Los Angeles, with 352,359 square feet scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
Most of the action in Industry has aptly been focused on industrial and warehouse use due to rising demand for last-mile distribution facilities. A recent market report by Colliers International showed that industrial vacancy rates remained at about 1.1 percent in San Gabriel Valley this past quarter, which is near a historic low.
Since the start of the year, the Nelson Avenue corridor in Industry closed at least three major deals. Soho Logistics signed a seven-year lease worth $11.2 million for 168,900 square feet in March, according to media reports. That same month, Max Sales Group purchased a 64,000-square-foot property for $11.5 million from Art Weiss Industrial Properties. And in April, Rexford Industrial acquired four industrial sites, including a 257,000-square-foot property at 13890 East Nelson Avenue, which alone traded for $41.8 million.
