Foot Locker signed Los Angeles County's largest industrial pre-lease of 2023 so far, agreeing to take 361K SF at the El Monte Logistics Center, Commercial Observer reported.

Developer Ares Management expects the property to be ready in 2024, and Foot Locker’s lease is expected to run through the second quarter of 2031, according to Newmark’s third-quarter report.

Ares and Black Creek Group bought the land in late 2019 for $46.1M. JLL is leading leasing on the property.

Large pre-leases like this one are rarer than in recent years as the industrial market normalizes from the white-hot competition that dominated the first years of the pandemic. Newmark’s report says that those days are “no more” now that occupiers have shifted focus from locking down space to lowering costs.

Even in the Inland Empire, one of the nation’s top markets, vacancy and sublease space are on the rise.

Other top leases last quarter included National Road Logistics taking 443K SF in Torrance and OnTrac renewing its 400K SF lease in Commerce, according to Newmark.