WareSpace is doubling down on industrial space in Southern California amid a wider market squeeze.
The Maryland-based developer acquired an 82,000-square-foot industrial property at 13711 Freeway Drive in Santa Fe Springs for $15.8 million, L.A. Business First reported. The deal marks WareSpace’s second transaction in Greater Los Angeles and its first move into the Mid-Counties industrial submarket. The acquisition also expands WareSpace’s national footprint to 25 locations as the company pushes deeper into logistics-heavy markets.
Previous owner Rexford Industrial proposed constructing a new 105,000-square-foot industrial building on the 5-acre property before abandoning those plans, leaving the site vacant for years, according to L.A. Business First. WareSpace instead plans to reposition the site as a flexible warehouse campus geared toward smaller tenants. The company aims to carve the building into units ranging from 250 to 2,000 square feet for logistics operators, contractors, e-commerce sellers and service businesses. The project is expected to serve more than 100 businesses when complete.
Small-bay industrial has emerged as one of the tighter corners of the warehouse market even as broader industrial leasing activity cools. In supply-constrained markets like Los Angeles County, older industrial properties near major freeway infrastructure have become attractive repositioning targets as developers and operators chase higher rents from smaller users. The 1965-built Santa Fe Springs property sits at the junction of Interstate 5, the 91 and the 605, one of the region’s busiest industrial corridors with access to Los Angeles, Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley.
“Southern California is one of the most underserved regions for small businesses that need modern warehouse space,” Joseph Ely, co-founder and COO of WareSpace, said in a statement. “There’s a lot of entrepreneurial activity across the area, and a strong concentration of people and businesses. This is one of the most population-dense sites we’ve pursued so far, which is why it made sense to us.”
WareSpace made its California debut late last year with the $31.8 million acquisition of a warehouse in Santa Ana. It broke into another new market, the Seattle area, last month with the $19 million purchase of a warehouse in Renton, Washington, Connect C.R.E. reported.
— Chris Malone Méndez
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