Watson to expand its Southern California operations

Logistics managers in Southern California will soon have more shipping and sourcing options in the Inland Empire.

Watson Land Company – a builder of industrial facilities for manufacturing and distribution – plans on adding a 49-acre property to their portfolio in Chino, California.

“The Chino sub-market is the best logistics location within the Inland Empire due to its close proximity to the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and major population centers of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties,” said Craig B. Halverson, vice president of acquisitions with Watson Land Company.

The 2,134,440 square feet of land will be developed into three buildings for industrial use. The building sizes will be 530,000, 400,000 and 100,000 square feet and make up the next phase of Watson Commerce Center Chino.

The first phase of Watson Commerce Center Chino is 1.4 million square feet and comprised of four LEED certified buildings.

Each building will meet LEED Gold specifications as well as more stringent Watson standards, which include a minimum 32-foot clearance height, 185-foot concrete yard, 7” thick reinforced, 4,000 psi concrete floor slab and 3 percent skylights.

“Warehousing and distribution companies that require close proximity to the LA/Long Beach port complex, can utilize the cubic capacity of the 32-foot clearance height, require abundant truck loading positions and container parking and appreciate the sustainable features of a LEED certified building,” said Halverson in an interview.

The development is part of Watson Land Company’s Legacy Building Series which is an initiative to develop and offer highly flexible, Class-A industrial facilities with distinctive architectural detail. Watson’s Legacy Buildings are designed to offer maximum efficiency and flexibility for both distribution and manufacturing operations.
Development will start in the second quarter of 2013, with completion expected later in the year. Watson will be working with RGA Architects of Irvine, Calif. to design the expansion to Watson Commerce Center Chino.

This transaction is Watson’s third major land acquisition in Chino, which now totals almost 200 acres and will total 4 million square feet of industrial space upon completion.

Watson Land Company acquired the 49 acres of property from four different owners over the course of a one year period. Jim Leininger and Syp Vander Dussen from Vander Dussen & Haringsma Brokers represented Watson Land Company in the acquisition.