Bakersfield area warehouse development booming

Bakersfield area warehouse development booming A 110-acre industrial development under construction in southeast Bakersfield will add nearly 1 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space to the area's booming industrial real estate market.
   Breaking ground earlier this month, the $27 million Mount Vernon Industrial Park was 20 percent rented before the first shovel of dirt was turned, including a 30,000-square-foot regional distribution center for Red Bull energy drinks.
   Being developed by M.S. Walker & Associates in partnership with Insight Holdings LLC, the Mount Vernon project is expected to have 51 buildings when completely built out in 2009. The first phase of construction, set for completion in February, will feature 10 buildings ranging from 8,000 to 30,000 square feet.
   The Bakersfield area's industrial market, which some experts have compared to the Inland Empire market 10 years ago, has one of the nation's lowest vacancy rates at 3.7 percent — albeit with rents 40 percent cheaper than the Los Angeles area 100 miles to the southwest.
   Regional experts estimate that there are 23 million square feet of industrial property in use in the Kern County area, which includes Bakersfield. A nearly equal amount of industrial space is in development or under construction.