IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
An estimated 300 brokers and developers took a bus ride through the Inland Empire Thursday, as NAIOP’s Inland Empire chapter held its annual tour of new industrial properties in the two-county region.
This year’s tour had eight buses, the most the event has had since 2007, said Devon Sulli, the chapter’s executive assistant.
Participants toured one of four zones – two on the west side, two on the east – over about four hours, with one stop in the middle. In all, the brokers and developers inspected more than 70 properties and viewed close to 55 million square feet of industrial space, said Robert Evans, the chapter’s executive director.
“Three hundred is an incredible turnout, about 50 more than we had last year,” Evans said shortly before the fleet of buses departed Chino Municipal Airport. “It shows just how strong the market has come back.”
Most of the properties on the tour covered at least 500,000 square feet and are still available for sale or lease, having arrived on the market within the last year or so.
“The industrial market is absolutely red hot right now, and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon,” said Rick John, executive vice president and branch manager with Daum Commercial Real Estate Services Ontario.
The consumer market is strong now, and that’s driving the Inland Empire industrial sector, said John, a tour guide on one of two buses that covered the Fontana-Rialto-Jurupa Valley market.
