Distribution Center Set for Buena Park
Overton Moore Properties will break ground in the spring on a nearly 1.4-million-square-foot, $90-million business park and distribution center in Buena Park to meet continued demand for new industrial space in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Called the CommerceCentre @ Buena Park, the development will occupy 55 acres bounded by Knott Avenue, Caballero Boulevard and Fullerton Creek, which Gardena-based Overton bought from the Albertson’s Inc. supermarket chain.
The project will include renovation of 940,000 square feet of existing buildings as well as 422,750 square feet of new construction. The new buildings will be built on a speculative basis, meaning no tenants have yet committed to occupy the space.
The first buildings are scheduled to be completed by summer, said Timur Tecimer, president of Overton Moore Properties, the successor company to Overton Moore & Associates. The project will include 225,000 square feet of remodeled refrigeration and freezer space.
Despite expectations of an economic slowdown, Overton sees “no glut of space, especially in the industrial sector,” said Stan Moore, the company’s chief executive.
The vacancy rate is about 6% for the 110 million square feet of industrial space in the Mid-Counties market of central Los Angeles and Orange counties, said Steve Calhoun, a Colliers Seeley International broker.
Calhoun is marketing the new project on behalf of Overton along with Jerry Gillman of Colliers Seeley and Art Rasmussen of CB Richard Ellis.
The Mid-Counties market competes against other industrial centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties, Calhoun said, as well as the large concentration of warehouses in and around Ontario.
Demand for warehouse space in the Mid-Counties area tends to come from companies that distribute products primarily in Los Angeles and Orange counties, while Ontario and other Inland Empire locations tend to attract those that distribute throughout the western United States. Mid-Counties also draws tenants who want to be close to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The CommerceCentre is being designed by Tustin architect Daniel MacDavid. Tecimer describes it as a master-planned campus environment with nine buildings ranging from 36,000 square feet to 710,000 square feet. The largest building may be leased to a single tenant or broken into spaces as small as 150,000 square feet.
With the beginning of construction at the CommerceCentre, Overton will have more than 3.3 million square feet of industrial space under development. Overton has begun grading on the second phase of its 1.9-million-square-foot Port Los Angeles Distribution Center in San Pedro, scheduled for completion in the fall.
The company also plans to break ground in the next several months on two office projects, a 170,000-square-foot development near Los Angeles International Airport called Cross Pointe, and a 217,000-square-foot building called Douglas Technology Centre in El Segundo.
Although Overton is known primarily as an industrial developer, the 25 million square feet of space it has built over the years includes about 3 million square feet of suburban office space, Tecimer said.
