Industrial in Industry. (Real Estate).

The notoriously tight San Gabriel Valley industrial real estate market will be getting a little breathing room, as two lots totaling 40 acres have been purchased for the development of 473,000 square feet of industrial space.

In City of Industry, Snyder Langston Operon Group purchased 28 acres from Mansfield Plumbing and will be breaking ground on seven buildings totaling 370,000 square feet in March. The buildings, which will range from 22,000 to 192,000 square feet, will be marketed for sale at $72 to $87 per square foot.

A few miles north, in Azusa, CalMat Co. sold 12.5 acres at 1201 North Todd Ave. for $4.3 million to Todd Ave. Partners LLC, which will be developing Mountain View Business Park. The 14 buildings, ranging from 4,800 to 49,000 square feet, will be developed on spec and sold. Lease rates for the project, which will be completed in the fall, will range from 51 to 65 cents a foot, while sales prices will range from $72 to $87 a foot.

According to Grubb & Ellis Co., industrial vacancy for the San Gabriel Valley was 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter 2001, up from 2.8 percent for the year-earlier quarter but still .9 percent below the countywide vacancy rate. Asking rents for the quarter were 42 cents a foot.

Both CB Richard Ellis Senior Vice President Barbara Emmons, one of the leasing agents for the Industry site, and Gil Bates, partner and representative of Todd Ave. Partners, are confident in the demand for their respective developments.

"We expect 100 percent absorption by the time we're done with construction," Bates said of Mountain View, while Emmons targeted the year-end for a full lease-up in Industry.

Emmons and CB Richard Ellis' Darla Longo represented both the buyer and the seller on the City of Industry deal as well as the seller of the Azusa Property.