The Australia-based firm, a $26 billion-valued industrial investor and developer that operates its North American operations out of Irvine, is building a speculative, 1.5 million-square-foot logistics campus at the former Kimberly-Clark tissue paper manufacturing site in Fullerton.
Construction is expected to be completed by spring 2022.
E-Commerce Demand
The project comes as Orange County continues to face a dearth of new industrial inventory; an issue exacerbated by rising demand from e-commerce users during the pandemic.
“Customer demand for strategically located space, close to consumers, making a positive contribution towards a more sustainable world has never been more important,” said Anthony Rozic, CEO of Goodman North America.
OC’s base of industrial buildings totals some 230 million square feet; vacancy rates here run just 2.5% and monthly asking rents are up 6% from year ago levels to $1.06 per square foot, according to data from Voit Real Estate Services.
There was only about 350,000 square feet of industrial space under construction in the county at the end of the first quarter, according to Voit’s data, making the Fullerton project a much-needed addition to the area.
Goodman’s property is at 2001 E. Orangethorpe Ave., a sprawling site near the intersection of the Orange (57) and Riverside (91) freeways, and about 2 miles south of California State University, Fullerton.
Goodman notes that tenants will be able to provide same-day delivery to a population of 20 million consumers with an estimated combined consumer purchasing power of $215 billion annually.
“These new facilities form part of Goodman’s ongoing commitment to invest in high-specification, efficient and sustainable spaces in strategic locations, providing customers with a competitive advantage and direct access to a large consumer-base,” added Rozic, whose firm has built
No leases for the new project in Fullerton have been announced yet.
Sustainable Construction
Goodman bought the site at the end of 2019 for $202 million.
The Irving, Texas-based maker of Kleenex and other related products (NYSE: KMB) announced plans in 2018 to shutter the facility, which employed close to 300 people. At the time the site held about 1.3 million square feet of space.
Goodman’s planned logistics facility will have a larger footprint on the roughly 65-acre site.
It will include four buildings, with leasing requirements ranging from 173,825 square feet to 1.5 million square feet.
Goodman said the project is being “built to meet the needs of the new digital economy,” and is being touted as the firm’s “most sustainable” facility in OC.
The company also counts local properties in Anaheim and Orange.
The company said it will recycle 95% of the materials from the existing site to be used for the new construction. The project is expected to drastically reduce emissions and will be LEED certified, and will include electric vehicle charging stations, motion detected lighting and a solar ready roofing system.
The new property “is not only sustainable, but will enable customers to achieve higher speed to market and access to world-class amenities such as restaurants, shopping, Disneyland Resort, Downtown Fullerton, Honda Center, Anaheim Convention Center, Angel Stadium and California State University, Fullerton,” Rozic said.
