KKR Acquires Inland Empire Warehouse on Trucking Route for $137M
By Mark Hallum July 11, 2022 3:03 pm
reprints
Investment firm KKR acquired a 281,000-square-foot warehouse in the Inland Empire along key trucking routes between Southern California ports and distribution centers.
Located at 6300 Providence Way in Eastvale, Calif., the facility has served as an operations center for the seller, Chris Lupo, the CEO of Parker House Furniture, since it was built in 2017, and came at a price of $136.5 million, according to property records.
“We are continuing to invest in high-quality industrial real estate in strategically located, irreplaceable locations which we believe will continue to remain a mission-critical part of the supply chain for businesses of all sizes,” KKR’s Ben Brudney said in a statement.
Featuring a 148-foot truck court, the Class A industrial building is near Interstate 15 and about 60 miles from Los Angeles International Airport, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.
Lupo told Commercial Observer that while the building has been sold, the company will continue to occupy the facility as tenants.
The acquisition comes as industrial space continues to be the hottest real estate sector in the nation, with coastal vacancies at historic lows and rental rates rising at unprecedented levels. The Inland Empire has seen considerable growth because of it.
For example, in late June, JPMorgan Chase provided a $210 million construction loan to build the first part of Ontario Ranch Business Park in the Inland Empire. The Class A, seven-building project under construction already has Home Depot committed to 1.1 million square feet in the business park, Commercial Observer reported.
With e-commerce driving much of the industrial demand, some investors hoping to cash in are placing their chips on any sliver of real estate they can find, such as a strategy by Leste Real Estate and Iconic Equities to acquire smaller industrial lots in the $5 million to $30 million range for logistics tenants, particularly for vehicle storage.
Congestion in coastal markets’ industrial space has become so tight that warehouse space is being either eaten up or built out as far west as Mesa, Ariz., where Wharton Equity Partners acquired a 101-acre parcel where it plans to develop an 11-building, 1.5 million-square-foot industrial park.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
