Spec industrial development being built near Long Beach Airport

Construction is underway on a $95-million collection of industrial buildings at Douglas Park, a former aerospace manufacturing base next to the Long Beach Airport.

Sares Regis Group is constructing seven buildings housing a combined 667,000 square feet that it hopes to sell. The fact that the Irvine developer is building on speculation — without a buyer or tenant lined up — is a sign of how healthy the regional industrial property market has become.

“We expect a great deal of buyer interest because the Long Beach and South Bay area is one of the nation’s tightest industrial markets,” said Larry Lukanish, senior vice president at Sares Regis.

The South Bay industrial market, which includes Long Beach, has one of the lowest vacancy rates of any major market in the United States, Lukanish said. South Bay vacancy settled at 3.4% at the end of last year, according to data from brokerage CBRE Group Inc., which is marketing the project.

When completed this summer, the buildings will range in size from 33,455 square feet to 170,673 square feet. The complex will be known as Pacific Pointe.

The 260-acre Douglas Park was approved by city leaders in 2004. It was intended to revive the site of the defunct Boeing Co. aircraft manufacturing plant, built by Douglas Aircraft Co., which once employed about 50,000 people. Aviation entrepreneur Donald Douglas founded the company that merged with rival Boeing in 1997.

A Boeing facility that makes C-17 military aircraft still operates adjacent to Douglas Park.

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