Westcore Properties, an active investor in industrial and office properties throughout the western US, has acquired an industrial portfolio in North San Diego County from Boston-based TA Realty for about $75M. The four-property, 514,169 SF portfolio includes 16990 Goldentop Road in Rancho Bernardo, the Escondido Business Center, Bay San Marcos and the San Marcos Commerce Center.

“Development of incubator multi-tenant and multi-tenant industrial properties has been almost nonexistent in San Diego over the past decade, increasing demand for these buildings,” said Westcore SVP Hack Adams, who heads Westcore acquisitions for the US Southwest. “Industrial real estate market fundamentals are extremely strong throughout San Diego, and we are bullish on the respective submarkets of Escondido, San Marcos and Rancho Bernardo represented in this portfolio.”

North County’s industrial market is seeing tremendous investor activity, with properties trading and ground-up construction. Despite the addition of a significant amount of new product, according to a Q2 2016 report from Cushman & Wakefield, industrial vacancy is just 5% in North County submarkets, the lowest on record. The average asking rent is $0.91, a bargain compared to Central San Diego submarkets, where the average asking rent is $1.22.

Industrial users are attracted to this area because it offers modern Class-A industrial facilities, lower costs, good road access and speed to market. There are eight projects, with a total of nearly 855k SF, under construction in Oceanside and Carlsbad and others planned throughout the North County region.