EverWest Pays $32 Million for Carson, California, Site
The roughly 90,400-square-foot industrial property is located at 2824 E. 208th St. in Carson, California. (Michael Rutt/CoStar)
By Jack Witthaus CoStar News
June 2, 2023 | 12:44 P.M.
A Denver real estate investment firm's acquisition in America's largest county by population shows the slowing demand for industrial real estate in greater Los Angeles, one of the most in-demand areas nationally for this type of real estate.
EverWest Real Estate Investors, based in Denver, bought the roughly 90,400-square-foot 2824 E. 208th St. in Carson for $32 million, or about $353 per square foot, according to CoStar data. Multiple entities were the sellers.
The sale is the largest industrial deal in terms of total price in Los Angeles County in the past month, according to CoStar data. That's well below the same time period last year when at least six industrial sales topped that price.
Los Angeles County is one of the nation's most sought-after industrial markets due to its proximity to two major ports and its location in one of the most populated areas in the U.S.
Halfway through 2023 a mere $2.5 billion in industrial properties have sold in greater L.A., a slower pace than than in 2022 when more than $9.2 billion properties sold over the entire year, according to CoStar data.
Bearish Factors
Rising interest rates and economic uncertainty have cooled sales demand for industrial property and other real estate asset classes in the U.S. In addition, real estate sellers in the city of Los Angeles now must contend with a new tax on properties trading above $5 million, which has cooled demand.
On the leasing side, Southern California's industrial market is slowing because companies don't want to make long-term business decisions if the economy is on the brink of a recession, according to a LinkedIn post by Sean Ward, an industrial analyst and executive vice president of CBRE. But Ward said Southern California's long-term fundamentals — including the ports, population and land constraints on new development — continue to make the region attractive for investment industrial space.
"Some bumps in the short term but a very long runway for SoCal industrial," Ward said.
The Carson industrial market has an average rent of $18.72 per square foot, below the greater L.A. average of $19.09 per square foot, according to CoStar data. The market's average vacancy is 3.4%, near the greater L.A. average of 3.5%.
EverWest has $5.2 billion in assets under management spanning roughly 19.5 million square feet. An EverWest representative didn't respond to an emailed request to comment from CoStar News.