CenterPoint Buys Four Warehouses in Compton for $197M

CenterPoint Properties has picked up four industrial buildings in Compton for $197 million.

The Illinois-based investor bought a 546,900-square-foot warehouse portfolio at 111 West Artesia Boulevard, 711 West Walnut Street, 1620 South Wilmington Avenue and 425 Carob Street, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported.

The seller was undisclosed in a deal that works out to $360 per square foot.

The South Bay properties, 12 miles from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, contain 113 dock-high loading positions, 12 ground-level loading doors, plus parking and secure yards.

“It’s rare to have the opportunity to acquire this type of scale in the South Bay,” Evan Lippow, San Francisco-based senior vice president of investments for CenterPoint’s West region, said in a statement.

CBRE Group brokered the deal.

“The portfolio is located in one of the strongest industrial markets in the country,” Michael Longo of CBRE said in a statement. “South Bay is supply constrained with little vacancy, and this asset represents a truly unique investment opportunity in an exceptionally strong rent-growth market known for quality tenants and high retention.”

CenterPoint now has 30 South Bay properties, plus two projects in the pipeline. In April, the firm expects to complete a 113,400-square-foot industrial building at 16627 Avalon Boulevard in Carson.

The vacancy rate for industrial buildings across greater Los Angeles last month was 4.6 percent, the highest level in a decade, according to CoStar. A year ago, the vacancy rate was 2.4 percent.

Last month, Prologis paid $50 million for a 251,000-square-foot office and warehouse in Commerce. The deal for the 13-acre property at 7400 East Slauson Avenue worked out to $199 per square foot.

In 2022, CenterPoint, among the nation’s 10 largest industrial landlords, paid $101 million for a 210,600-square-foot warehouse in Jurupa, in the Inland Empire. The deal worked out to $480 per square foot.

At the same time, the Oak Brook-based real estate investment trust bought a 91,000-square-foot warehouse in Gardena for an undisclosed price. The deal came not long after CenterPoint picked up a three-building portfolio in Signal Hill.