Bay Area’s AMB enters Mexican real estate market with Hitachi lease

Bay AreaÆs AMB enters Mexican real estate market with Hitachi lease    San Francisco-based real estate developer AMB Property Corp. said Wednesday it has entered the Tijuana market with the acquisition of a 264,000-square-foot facility that is fully leased to Hitachi Sistema de Transporte Mexico S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Hitachi Transport System (America) Ltd.
   Financial details of the lease were not released.
   The facility, named AMB Frontera Distribution Center, is located about 2.5 miles from the Otay Mesa U.S./Mexico border crossing. The crossing is one of the busiest for freight on the U.S.-Mexico border, with more than 1.5 million trucks crossing annually.
   Hitachi Transport System (America) Ltd., a solely owned subsidiary of Hitachi Transport System Ltd. in Japan, operates an international cargo transportation network. Hitachi is using AMB Frontera Distribution Center for the distribution of home electronics and other products manufactured in Mexico bound for the United States. In addition to the new property in Mexico, Hitachi leases space from AMB in the Paris, Tokyo, Chicago and San Francisco Bay Area markets.
   AMB acquired AMB Frontera Distribution Center on behalf of its Mexico fund, a co-investment joint venture that invests in distribution facilities in targeted markets in Mexico.
   AMB's Mexico portfolio now comprises operating and development real estate in Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Tijuana and Queretaro — a portfolio totaling about 6 million square feet. The firm's total portfolio of property, either owned or in partnerships, is about 128.2 million square feet in 40 markets within 13 countries.