Ross Dress for Less inks huge warehouse lease in California

Discount department-store chain Ross Stores signed a huge warehouse lease in California.

The retailer signed a lease for a 1 million-square-foot distribution center at the Wonderful Industrial Park just north Bakersfield in California’s central valley, landlord Wonderful Real Estate announced.

Ross owns a 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center at the industrial park.

Wonderful Real Estate president Joe Vargas said Ross and other tenants – which include Target, MRC Global and Formica – enjoy “ready access to a dependable labor pool living within minutes of the park.”

They’ve also benefited “by having exceptionally large trailer and equipment parking space that has increased the efficiency of importing goods from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” he added.

Real estate investors have been pouring capital into industrial and supply-chain properties as values rise thanks to the popularity of online shopping.

The Blackstone Group in May reached a deal to buy industrial landlord Gramercy Property trust for $7.6 billion.

The national availability rate for warehouse space dropped to 7.2 percent in the second quarter of the year – the lowest it’s been since the dot-com boom.

[Globe Newswire] – Rich Bockmann