Kenco Logistics Services, a provider of third-party logistics, is growing its footprint in the top market in the country for its types of services: the red-hot Inland Empire in Southern California.
The firm will take over the 397,351-square-foot warehousing and distribution facility at the Perris Gateway Commerce Center in Perris, Calif., in Riverside County.
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The site is located next to other facilities operated by Kenco; the firm also leases the 579,708-square-foot Perris Logistics Center at 3900 Indian Avenue.
“When combined with the current Perris facilities, this additional distribution center brings us more scalable and multi-client customer space in Southern California,” Kenco’s COO, David Caines, said in a statement.
Newmark (NMRK) announced the lease. The brokerage’s Ron Washle and Mark Kegans, along with Jimmy Glascock of JDK Real Estate, represented Kenco Logistics, which claims to be the largest woman-owned third-party logistics company in the United States. Kenco will use the property as a multi-client distribution center that supports customers’ supply chains.
The industrial vacancy rate in the Inland Empire hit a record low in the first quarter with robust leasing activity carrying over into 2021, according to Newmark. Construction activity was up 36.2 percent from year-end 2020, and quarterly net absorption was substantially higher than the 20-year average of 4 million square feet.
With the post-pandemic labor market recovery and swift growth of e-commerce sales, the forecast for a big-box logistics corridor like the Inland Empire is highly bullish. In addition to the growing e-commerce sector, the Inland Empire is benefiting from more Angelenos coming to the region in search of more affordable suburban markets.
Earlier this week, Brookfield Properties acquired a 232,600-square-foot distribution center for $38 million in the city of Colton, Calif., in the heart of the Inland Empire. And last month, MG Properties Group acquired a multifamily property in the same city for $88 million. (Brookfield also grabbed a distribution facility from AEW in New York about six months ago.)
AEW has been an active investor across the board. Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies recently provided a $110 million loan for an office-to-life-sciences conversion project in Massachusetts, which is led by a joint venture between AEW and Redgate, Optimum Asset Management. Last October, AEW and Merrill Gardens Senior Living scored a $460 million financing vehicle from PGIM Real Estate to purchase a 10-property West Coast senior living portfolio.
