207,000-SF Project Lands 69,000-SF Prelease in Riverside, CA

The Main & Garner Business Park, a joint venture of the Los Angeles-based Obayashi Group and Torrance-based Tuffli Co., has signed job training nonprofit organization Ability Counts Inc. to a 10-year lease for 68,678 sf at the 206,902-sf industrial park. The new development is under way at Garner Road and Main Street in Riverside.

The project is being marketed by Milo Lipson and Ryan Velasquez of the Inland Empire office of Grubb & Ellis. The new development comprises six freestanding buildings ranging in size from 21,911 sf to 68,678 sf. It broke ground in the second week of March with completion slated for November 2008.

Ability Counts Inc.provides employment and job training for individuals with developmental disabilities in the greater Corona, Riverside and Redlands areas. It is the first tenant to commit to the Main & Garner project and will be relocating from leased space in Riverside when its new building is complete.

The Main & Garner Business Park is the development group's second project in the immediate area. The group completed a five-building development on the other side of Main Street in 2006.

The new project is part of one of the nation's busiest industrial leasing markets, according to the latest market survey from Grubb & Ellis, which shows that the year-end 2007 vacancy rate was 4.8% in the Inland Empire, up about 40 basis points from 2006. Total sale and leasing activity registered 30.3 million sf for the year, nearly identical to the 30.1 million sf in 2006. Grubb & Ellis calls the Inland Empire, “ever a leasing market,” pointing out that of the 596 user transactions in 2007, 420 were leases.