In the midst of the craze over mixed use and retail development, Southern California may be forgetting about a critical type of real estate: industrial. As “lifestyle centers” and “luxury condos atop ground floor retail” gobble up all remaining parcels of land, warehouses and factories find themselves to be the fat kids in gym class. The result is NIMBYism at its best! Everyone wants a new retail center but no one wants a new warehouse, but never mind that whole, warehouses-and-factories-are-vital-to-the-economy thing.
With no new industrial development and vacancy rates extremely low, rents are climbing, and business expansions are waning.
Los Angeles County and the four surrounding counties saw 252 major business expansions last year, down 27.5 percent compared to a year earlier, the study said. With a 2 percent industrial vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles County had the tightest market in the five-county region that includes Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
At least the landlords are getting rich. But where will the hipsters throw their parties?
· Land Scarce for Factories, Warehouses [Daily Breeze]