Cushman & Wakefield's Industrial Advisory Group West, led by Jeff Chiate and members in the firm's Orange County office, is one of the pre-eminent industrial investment brokerage groups in the Western U.S. During 2020, the Cushman & Wakefield Industrial Advisory Group West team arranged the sales of numerous high-quality industrial properties across Southern California along with multiple other Western U.S. markets. The team had a prolific year, closing nearly 30 investment sales totaling more than $1.5 billion in value. The total building square footage exceeded 6.5 million square feet, in addition to land sites totaling more than 160 acres, much of which will be used for the development of millions of square feet of new Class A industrial product. Of the team's 2020 sales, 10 were in excess of $50 million, with nearly half a dozen that were valued at more than $100 million. The team set multiple records, including the lowest cap rates in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Orange County.

Among the disclosable top sales closed by the team, many comprising Class A buildings with strong occupancy by e-commerce tenants, included a 2.8 million-square-foot multi-state, multi-market industrial portfolio with assets in Seattle and Santa Fe & Valencia (Greater Los Angeles);an iconic 601,417-square-foot industrial facility in southern San Diego, the region's largest Class A industrial building, a 373,942-square-foot industrial building in Orange County, an 85,824-square-foot fully leased industrial asset in central San Diego, a 213,818-square-foot newly constructed class-A industrial building in Las Vegas fully-leased to an investment-grade credit tenant, four industrial buildings fully leased to a major e-commerce company in Phoenix, Orange County, Inland Empire and Salt Lake City;56 acres of fully entitled industrial land in the Inland Empire East market, and the sale of a unique 7.5-acre e-commerce parking facility in north San Diego fully leased to a global credit tenant.

The team has seen the buyer pool for industrial property continue to grow, while demand continues to compress cap rates and propel record sale metrics. The team expressed seeing even greater interest in the industrial sector since the pandemic given its strong fundamentals and having performed very well overall, particularly in the e-commerce/logistics segment but certainly other segments as well. The largest demand has been for well-located distribution facilities and land sites, in addition to strong activity for high quality facilities in secondary markets as investors seek stable returns during the pandemic environment.

The team expects to have a very active 2021 based on the deals currently in the market along with the valuation requests received, and remains optimistic for the industrial investment sector looking ahead in Southern California and across the Western U.S.