Rexford Pays $357M for Three More Industrial Sites in SoCal
L.A.-based REIT has spent $762 million already this year with another $125 million in the pipeline
By Greg Cornfield April 6, 2023 3:15 pm
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Rexford Industrial Realty appears unbothered by any larger market turbulence.
The Los Angeles-based REIT announced that it acquired three more industrial properties for a combined $357.2 million, bringing its year-to-date investment to $762 million, and putting Rexford on pace to clear the $3 billion mark in 2023 if the rapid rate of acquisition continues. This comes after Rexford completed $2.4 billion in acquisitions in 2022.
Howard Schwimmer and Michael Frankel, co-CEOs of Rexford, said in a joint statement following the most recent deals that the company controls 2 percent of the Southern California industrial market, which they described as the largest and highest-demand industrial market in the U.S. and the fourth-largest industrial market in the world. The executives added that they also have a near-term investment pipeline of more than $125 million in acquisitions under contract or accepted offer.
“As the nation’s largest pure-play, U.S.-focused, industrial REIT, Rexford Industrial is well positioned to drive accretive internal cash flow growth as we roll our substantially below-market leases to higher market rents and through the lease-up of our repositioning and redevelopment projects currently in process,” the co-CEOs said.
The largest of the most recent acquisitions was in the San Diego market. Rexford agreed to pay $200 million, or $388 per square foot, in a sale leaseback for the 26.1-acre property at 9223 and 9323 Balboa Avenue and 4285 Ponderosa Avenue, which currently includes industrial, research and development space as well as offices almost surrounded by major freeways.
Rexford could redevelop the property into a Class A industrial site in combination with divestiture of the research and development and office buildings, which are leased long term to a single tenant, Cubic Corporation. The vacancy rate in the 66 million-square-foot Central San Diego submarket was 2.6 percent at the end of the fourth quarter 2022, according to CBRE.
Rexford also added two properties in L.A.’s South Bay. The REIT acquired 18.4 acres at 9000 Airport Boulevard, adjacent to LAX, for $143 million. That translates to $7.78 million per acre or $178 per land square foot. The property is leased to one tenant, Hertz car rental, through a three-year sale leaseback with 4 percent embedded annual rent increases. After the completion of the lease, Rexford plans to redevelop the property into a Class A industrial campus, or to reposition the site for industrial outdoor storage uses.
At 3520 Challenger Street in Torrance, Rexford paid $14.2 million, or $132 per land square foot, for a light industrial R&D office building leased long-term to a single tenant. According to CBRE, the vacancy rate in the 221 million-square-foot South Bay submarket was 0.8 percent at the end of the fourth quarter 2022.
Rexford also said it sold a multitenant warehouse with 48,394 square feet at 8101-8117 Orion Avenue in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley for $17 million, or $351 per square foot. The property was 93 percent occupied at the time of sale. Rexford did not disclose the name of the buyer.
Rexford’s portfolio includes 362 properties with approximately 44 million rentable square feet of industrial space.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
