CenterPoint continues SoCal spree in Signal Hill

Chicago-based firm’s latest buy is nine acres for distribution center near region’s twin seaports

CenterPoint CEO Bob Chapman and an aerial of the property (Google Maps)
CenterPoint CEO Bob Chapman and an aerial of the property (Google Maps)

Industrial real estate investor and developer CenterPoint Properties is on a buying spree in Southern California.

The Chicago-based firm acquired nine acres at the site of a former abandoned driving range in Signal Hill, a small municipality, where plans call for a 100,000-square-foot distribution center.

The seller was the private energy concern Signal Hill Petroleum; terms of the deal, which was brokered by Kidder Matthews, were not disclosed.

The property at 2550 Orange Avenue is close to the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach– the busiest such complex in the U.S., accounting for an estimated 40% of all sea freight entering the country.

CenterPoint does not have a tenant in place for the planned development, but it’s laying its plans against the backdrop of industrial availability in the Greater Los Angeles Basin at historic lows. There is effectively zero available class A space in select Los Angeles submarkets, according to a JLL third-quarter industrial report.

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The deal comes on the heels of a handful of others by CenterPoint in Southern California, including its purchase in October of a three-property portfolio in Santa Ana. That deal, valued at $114 million, came out to about $130 per square foot.

More recently, CenterPoint bought a three-property industrial portfolio spanning some 215,000 square feet in Long Beach, La Verne and Ontario in a sale-leaseback deal with the forklift manufacturer Crown Equipment Corporation.

CenterPoint has been an active buyer in South Florida recently also, as demand for warehouse space nationally has gone full-throttle, fueled by recent supply chain disruption and consumers’ increased reliance on ecommerce through the pandemic. This fall alone, the firm has snapped up properties in Medley; Pampano Beach and Doral.

CenterPoint could not be immediately reached for comment.

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