Duke Realty fills 199K sf spec warehouse with e-commerce wholesaler

Yaheetech signs ahead of 2022 opening in Inland Empire

James Connor, CEO, Duke Realty; Rendering of 1532 South Vineyard Avenue (Duke Realty, iStock)
James Connor, CEO, Duke Realty; Rendering of 1532 South Vineyard Avenue (Duke Realty, iStock)

Duke Realty has leased a nearly 200,000-square-foot spec warehouse in the Inland Empire to an e-commerce wholesaler months before the development is set to open.

The Indianapolis-based REIT signed Yahee Technologies to a long-term lease on the warehouse at 1532 South Vineyard Avenue in Ontario, Duke announced on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.

Yahee Technologies–or Yaheetech–is based in Shenzhen, China, with its U.S. headquarters in Ontario.

Duke acquired the land for the Ontario warehouse in 2019 for an undisclosed sum, records show.

The property will have 25 dock doors, clear heights of 36 feet, and parking spaces for 120 cars and 21 trailers. It is expected to open in early 2022.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Yaheetech supplies furniture, office supplies, sports equipment, beauty products and more to large online distributors, including Amazon, Walmart and Wayfair.

The growth of e-commerce before and during the pandemic has caused demand for industrial space to soar, as suppliers have had to compete for space to store and distribute goods.

Vacancy in the segment was below 1.2 percent in the third quarter in the Inland Empire, a key inland distribution hub in Southern California. The tight market has prompted tenants to take space before it even becomes available, according to a quarterly report from Newmark. Tenants with leases up for renewal are mostly agreeing to rent hikes with no negotiations, the report said.

Average asking rent for industrial real estate in the Inland Empire was $0.83 per square foot per month in the third quarter, up from $0.68 in the third quarter of last year. In Los Angeles, average rent in the segment ticked up to $1.14 a foot last quarter.