Rexford keeps up investing pace with $118M purchase of San Fernando Business Center

Rexford Industrial Realty continued its active investing this year with the purchase of a San Fernando industrial park.

The Brentwood-based real estate investment trust paid $118 million for the 590,570-square-foot San Fernando Business Center in an off-market transaction. It worked out to about $200 per square foot. About 88 percent of the multi-tenant space is occupied at below-market rate rents, according to a company release.

The seller was Barings Real Estate. CBRE’s Darla Longo, Barbara Perrier, Rebecca Perlmutter, Brett Hartzell and Eric Cox represented Barings.

Connecticut-based Barings is the investment management wing of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.

San Fernando Business Center is nearly 29 acres across five industrial buildings. Three are single-tenant spaces, while the other two are three-tenant spaces. Rexford plans to improve the properties with cosmetic and other upgrades with the goal of securing higher rents.

Rexford is one of the most active industrial investors in the L.A. area in an industrial market that is one of the hottest in the country. Last year saw 7.5 percent rent growth and a steady stream of large deals. Vacancy across L.A. was around 1.4 percent at the close of last year. Though growth slowed somewhat in the fourth quarter, experts are confident that 2019 will be another big year for the sector.

Rexford spent around $500 million last year on acquisitions and is keeping up the pace this year. Recently, it acquired half a million square feet of real estate, mostly in industrial-heavy markets in southern L.A. County, in four transactions.