Sares Regis Group has signed on a large local tenant for the next phase of its Huntington Gateway Business Park in Surf City, sources tell the Business Journal.
Huntington Beach-based Cambro Manufacturing, a maker and distributor of food storage products, inked a nearly 434,000-square-foot lease to occupy a new building planned for the intersection of Bolsa Chica Street and Bolsa Avenue.
The building, among the larger new industrial facilities to be built in Orange County in years, has yet to kick off construction.
The deal is the largest new industrial lease reported in Orange County this year, and follows a notable deal struck by Amazon earlier this year, which signed a 260,000-square-foot lease for the first phase at the business park.
The deal adds to a growing industrial base in the city for family-owned Cambro, which got its start in Huntington Beach in 1951 by brothers Argyle and William Campbell.
Including the new building, it now counts north of 1 million square feet of owned and leased space in the city.
Sources indicate the firm will use the new location as a distribution facility; it owns and occupies a few other buildings in the city that are primarily used for manufacturing and warehouse functions.
Huntington Gateway
The development site, about a mile and a half west of the San Diego (405) Freeway, was previously home to some of the local operations of Boeing Co.
The Chicago-based aerospace and defense giant has sold roughly 90 acres in a series of transactions totaling almost $190 million in 2018 and 2019 to Newport Beach’s Sares Regis Group.
Redevelopment of the site by Sares Regis has included the 2019 demolition of an eight-story, 285,000-square-foot office previously occupied by Boeing, which has been steadily consolidating its operations and real estate presence in the region in recent years.
Sares Regis is now close to finishing construction of a 260,000-square-foot building on part of the site to be used by Amazon.
Cambro’s lease marks the first tenant news for the next phase of Huntington Gateway, which city documents indicate could span more than 1 million square feet.
The Irvine office of Newmark represented both Sares Regis and Cambro Manufacturing in the transaction.
HB Base
Cambro makes trays, table service products and food containers, among others. Its products are used in the restaurant, healthcare, hospitality and education sectors.
As of a few years ago, reports estimated the company to do about $300 million in annual revenue.
The new lease suggests a rebound in business this year for Cambro, which was among those facing layoffs at the onset of the pandemic. State documents indicate the firm temporarily laid off more than 150 local employees in May 2020.
The company’s website says it employs more than 600 in its domestic manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and corporate offices. It also has operations overseas.
Cambro has long been based out of a nearly 250,000-square-foot warehouse at 5801 Skylab Road, down the street from the proposed building along Bolsa Avenue. It owns that facility, as well as a manufacturing facility spanning about 250,000 square feet on Slater Avenue.
Elsewhere in the city, Cambro owns a 97,186-square-foot light manufacturing building at 7601 Clay Ave.
Cambro Manufacturing has produced more than 14,000 foodservice products since its inception. It is currently led by William Campbell’s son, Argyle.
