The U.S. Postal Service has recently signed a lease for one of its largest distribution facilities in Southern California. According to a recent leasing report from the agency, the USPS will take up 354,578 square feet at 27400 5th Street in Highland.
The report shows the lease was originally signed in October of 2021 and will allow the USPS to occupy the space through October of 2026.
The space is located in eastern San Bernardino County near State Road 210 and within close proximity to the Inland Empire. The facility is also located near many other distribution and manufacturing facilities, with neighboring companies like Amazon and The Home Depot.
The report shows that the Highland distribution center is owned by global investment and development company Brookfield Properties. As well as the Highland facility, Brookfield manages more than 800 properties, totaling more than 375 million square feet, across the globe. The company also has more than 50 million square feet of real estate currently under construction.
As well as its new Highland facility, the Postal Service maintains more than 25,300 leased facilities across every state and U.S. territory. Additionally, the Postal Service owns 8,460 properties across the nation.
In general, the Inland Empire remains a tight market for the industrial market, with vacancy rates hitting 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022. According to a recent industrial market report from CBRE, limited availability combined with the record levels of demand have caused rents to soar as well. Currently rental rates average $1.23 per square foot per month, roughly a 74.6 percent increase from 2021 to 2022.
