VICTORVILLE – The need for more storage space for goods shipped into the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles has turned the Inland Empire into a warehouse capital. CBRE Group Executive Jay Dick estimates there’s been 5 million square feet of logistics real estate deals in High Desert communities including Hesperia and Victorville. 

“The coronavirus pandemic turbocharged e-commerce and demand for instant delivery. That means more demand for warehouse space, but as land gets developed, there’s fewer places to build new warehouses in the western part of the Inland Empire,” said Dick.

Although San Bernardino county is only located 60 miles from LA, this region is a large metropolitan area in its own right. The region benefits from many of the same infrastructure and geographical advantages as Los Angeles and Long Beach, with the additional benefits of having less congestion and lower property values. 

“While it costs more to haul goods from the ports to warehouses that are farther out, the trade-off is that logistics rents are cheaper the further you get from the ports,” said Dick.

From 2004 to 2020, the amount of Inland logistics space doubled to about 600 million square feet as the number of Inland big-box distribution centers grew from 463 in 2009 to 711 in 2020.

Logistics growth into the Cajon Pass will affect the 10, the 60 Freeway and local roads “and will increase freight train traffic on a very crowded rail network in both Riverside and San Bernardino County,” said Deputy Executive Director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission John Standiford.

Dick says the appetite for warehouse space that’s pushing logistics outward isn’t slowing down.

“People are increasing the amount of goods in the supply chain,” said Dick. “The demand is staying strong. I think it’s going to keep going.”