Here are LA County’s biggest industrial sales of 2019

Australia-based Goodman Group had the two biggest industrial acquisitions this year in Los Angeles County, paying a total of $360 million for a former military cargo plane factory in Long Beach and a manufacturing plant in Atwater Village. The company intends to convert the massive former plane factory into a shopping and industrial complex.

Goodman, Rexford Industrial Realty and Blackstone Group dominated the top five industrial sales of 2019.

L.A.-based Rexford locked in two of the five biggest purchases this year, combining for $224 million. Blackstone — which in June paid $18 billion for a massive U.S. warehouse portfolio from GLP Pte — also made the top five, paying $124 million for a 700,000-square-foot warehouse in Cerritos.

Overall, demand for industrial properties remained strong in L.A., in particular the Inland Empire, which has been at the center of much of the expansion. The appetite for distribution and last-mile centers helped push the local industrial market to the lowest vacancy rate of any major market in the U.S., according to a third quarter report from Cushman & Wakefield. Even with the addition of new industrial construction in L.A., vacancy isn’t expected to rise beyond 4 percent, according to the report. In fact, the demand has been so strong that it has outpaced supply, leading to a drop in leasing, according to a third-quarter report from NAI Capital.

1. 2400-2401 E. Wardlow Dr., Long Beach — Goodman Group | $230M

Goodman acquired the former military plane assembly factory after the Boeing Company failed to secure more funding for the C-17 cargo jet. The 1.7-million-square-foot factory is on a sprawling 93-acre site adjacent to the Long Beach Airport. Goodman’s purchase in June penciled out to $132 per square foot.

The company has partnered with the city of Long Beach to convert the space into shopping and industrial development. The property will be renamed the Goodman Commerce Center Long Beach.

2. 4544 Colorado Ave., Atwater Village — Goodman Group | $130M

Goodman acquired this manufacturing facility from supermarket chain Ralph’s. The property, which Goodman picked up in May, spans about 37 acres. Ralph’s built the warehouse in the late 1980s. At the time, it was one of the largest automated warehouses in the country.

3. 15928 Commerce Way, Cerritos — Blackstone Group | $124M

This acquisition represented just a tiny slice of Blackstone’s $18 billion industrial portfolio purchase from Singapore-based GLP. The Cerritos building is 709,000 square feet, and the deal penciled out to $193 per square feet.

4. 635 8th St., San Fernando — Rexford Industrial Realty | $118M

Brentwood-based Rexford acquired the 591,660-square-foot San Fernando Business Center in an off-market transaction in April. The deal worked out to about $200 per square foot. About 88 percent of the multi-tenant space is occupied at below-market rate rents.

San Fernando Business Center is on nearly 29 acres across five industrial buildings. Three are single-tenant spaces, while the other two are three-tenant spaces. Rexford plans to upgrade the properties and raise rents. Rexford remains one of the most active industrial investors in the L.A. area.

This month, it bought two L.A.-area warehouse for $100 million, bringing its total acquisitions this year in Southern California to nearly $1 billion.

5. 2455 Conejo Spectrum St., Thousand Oaks — Rexford Industrial | $106M

Rexford acquired the Conejo Spectrum Business Park in early February. The 531,000 square foot property, sold in an off-market transaction, penciling out at $200 per square foot. The industrial park consists of nine buildings spread across 28 acres.

The seller was Sares Regis, which acquired the development site for $24 million near the end of 2016, and completed construction about two years later.