Last year marked the passing of the industrial torch, with the amount of space devoted to industrial use in the Inland Empire surpassing that in Orange County. The Inland Empire has 261.6 million square feet of industrial space at the end of the fourth quarter vs. 241.5 million square feet in OC, according to CB Richard Ellis Services Inc. Don't look for an OC comeback. Real estate players cite OC's scarce, expensive land as impediments to big growth. Still, there are opportunities to do in-fill building and rehabs of existing space in the county. And small industrial space is still a hot buy for some companies. Business Journal reporter Daniel Williams asked some of the regions experts about the future of OCs industrial space. What will it take for the county to see growth in industrial space? RAPHAEL BOSTIC Director, Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast University of Southern Californias Lusk Center To get significant growth in new industrial space in Orange County, we'll need to see a resumption of sustained growth among the county's industrial producers. This sector felt the sharp sting of the recession and has not recovered to levels that would lead to large-scale investment in many projects. That said, the manufacturing sector has performed better in recent months than it has in other years, and so we should see some activity moving forward.
February 3, 2003