Hillwood Development, the master developer for the land around San Bernardino International Airport, has acquired two new industrial buildings near the project.
Hillwood, which is based in Dallas, did not disclose the purchase price. The company announced the deal Tuesday.
“It’s such a price that allows us to make good market deals below what the market was a year ago,” Hillwood senior vice president John Magness said. “Put it this way: It’s below replacement.”
The airport area properties have never been occupied. Hillwood purchased the buildings from a company called Black Rock.
Current economic conditions make it cheaper to buy buildings than to build new ones, Magness said. The buildings, which together have more than 1 million square feet of space, could be used for warehousing or manufacturing, Magness said.
Inland Empire economist John Husing said upon hearing of the deal that Hillwood’s purchase is not likely to signal any major changes in the industrial market.
“They saw a good deal and they jumped on it,” Husing said, interpreting the news.
Hillwood did not announce tenants for the industrial buildings, the first of which is in the 7700 block of Tippecanoe Avenue and the second in the 900 block of East Ninth Street.
The newly acquired buildings are in the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone, and are adjacent to Hillwood’s AllianceCalifornia project. That project includes Stater Bros.
Markets’ corporate headquarters and large warehouses used by such companies as Mattel, Kohl’s and Pep Boys.
AllianceCalifornia has about 8.6 million square feet of redeveloped land, including the newly acquired buildings.