A North Long Beach property most recently occupied by an oil and natural gas company is slated to be redeveloped into a massive warehouse.
In March, commercial real estate advisory and services firm Newmark Group announced the $50.7 million sale of the property at 5900 Cherry Ave. just north of South Street. Link Logistics Real Estate, a subsidiary of Blackstone that specializes in last-mile logistics properties, purchased the property.
The firm has submitted site plans to the city of Long Beach that call for the demolition of all existing structures on the site and the construction of a 303,000-square-foot concrete tilt-up industrial warehousing building, according to city spokesperson Richard de la Torre.
The Planning Commission is slated to consider the redevelopment project during its Oct. 6 meeting, de la Torre said.
Taking up almost half of the 14.19-acre property, the building would be 51 feet high and include 9,000 square feet of office, de la Torre said. The site plan also includes 338 parking spaces and about 45 semi-truck parking stalls, he added.
Link did not respond to request for comment regarding a timeline for the project or specifics about future operations.
The property is zoned for general industrial use and is flanked on either side by industrial users. Across the four lanes of Cherry Avenue to the west, however, are residential neighborhoods.
Newmark’s Andrew Briner, Jim Linn, Bret Hardy, Kevin Shannon, John McMillan and Danny Williams represented the seller, Plains All American Pipeline, a publicly traded owner and operator of crude oil and natural gas infrastructure.
“The South Bay industrial market is recognized globally as one of the best performing industrial markets in the nation,” Shannon said when the property sold earlier this year. “It is a very supply-constrained market with limited sites for comparable new development, making it well-positioned for continued rent growth.”
According to Newmark Research, the Los Angeles industrial market totals 1.05 billion square feet and had the second lowest vacancy rate in the U.S.—1.1%—at the end of the year. The region’s industrial vacancy rate has been below 3% for almost a decade.
The Long Beach property is “optimally located in the geographic center of nearly 18 million consumers” throughout the region, according to Newmark. Its proximity to various freeways, airports and ports also make it an ideal location, the firm stated.
Blackstone established Link in 2019. The parent company is in the midst of a rapid expansion, snatching up properties all over the country. The firm recently purchased PS Business Parks, including two dozen Signal Hill properties, for $7.6 billion.
Originally projected for sometime in 2026, Blackstone is now expected to surpass $1 trillion in assets before the end of this year.
Blackstone buys business park portfolio that includes dozens of Signal Hill properties
