First Industrial Realty Trust Buys 440,000 SF

LOS ANGELES-First Industrial Realty Trust of Chicago has added to its Southern California holdings with the acquisition of four buildings totaling 440,000 sf in Thousand Oaks, Compton and Torrance. The properties, the REIT points out, are situated in “two critical submarkets of Los Angeles,” the Conejo Valley in the northern part of the L.A. Basin and the South Bay submarket near the ports.

In one of its acquisitions, First Industrial bought a two-building portfolio totaling 184,000 sf in Thousand Oaks from the Wood Family Trust. The buildings, which are 100% leased, are located just off the 101 Freeway at 1011 Rancho Conejo Rd. and 2300 Corporate Center Dr.

Another acquisition was a 177,000-sf distribution center at 220 W. Manville St. in Compton, directly north of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. First industrial bought the property via a development and repositioning joint venture called First Cal 1, which it established in partnership with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS.

The third acquisition was an 83,000-sf regional distribution facility in the South Bay submarket at 20700 Denker Ave. in Torrance. The property, which First Industrial plans to reposition for leasing, is located near the interchange of the 405 and 110 freeways.

Ryan McClean, senior regional director for First Industrial’s Los Angeles office, describes Southern California as “a critical location for our customers to establish a distribution presence” near the ports. With these latest acquisitions, the Chicago-based REIT now owns, manages, or has under development approximately 4.2-million sf in Southern California. It owns morethan 1,300 acres of developable land with a potential build-out of 27-million sf.

The First Industrial acquisitions were brokered by Nick Gregg and Ken Ashen of CB Richard Ellis; John McKeown and Marc Bonando of Coldwell Banker Commercial; and Todd Taugner, Frank Schultz, and David Prior of the Klabin Co.