Newegg gets 245k sf nest at Ontario warehouse

Online electronics retailer Newegg is expanding its Southern California footprint with a 245,000-square-foot lease in San Bernardino County.

The City of Industry-based company’s new lease for 5200 Shea Center Drive in Ontario is valued at around $26 million, according to the Commercial Observer. The length of the lease has not been disclosed, but it appears to run about 10 years, based on recent data indicating an average asking lease rate of 73 cents per square foot for larger chunks of warehouse space in the area.

The lease is for one of five warehouses that make up Shea Properties’ 1.8-million-square-foot Shea Center Ontario logistics complex. The complex is just off the interchange of interstates 15 and 10, about a 10-minute drive from Ontario International Airport and an adjacent air hub for UPS.

Aerial of Shea Center Ontario with the Newegg leased building highlighted (Shea)

The warehouse, along with each of the complex’s other four warehouses, has 30-foot clear heights. It’s the third largest of its neighbors and has 68 dock doors, according to marketing materials.

Ontario is an industrial and warehousing center in the Inland Empire, thanks to its airport, rail links and access to highways. The city has seen a handful of large investment sales and leases this year.

Last month, Duke Realty announced it leased a 200,000-square-foot spec warehouse to China-based goods supplier Yahee Technologies. The property is about seven miles from Shea Center Ontario.

The pandemic boosted demand for warehousing space nationwide and made an already competitive Southern California market that much more feverish. Vacancy is at record lows, spurring pre-lease deals and spec development.

The region leads the nation in investment sales this year. Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire together accounted for $5.1 billion of the $36.6 billion in investment sales nationwide recorded during the first eight months of 2021.

The priciest deal so far recorded in the Inland Empire this year closed last month when Dallas-based Covington Group paid $252 million for a 3.4 million-square-foot industrial complex in Victorville. Like Shea Center Ontario and Duke Realty’s warehouse, the Victorville complex is near an airport, in this case the Southern California Logistics Airport.

[CO] — Dennis Lynch