Santa Monica-based Dedeaux Properties broke ground earlier this year on a 510,000-square-foot industrial facility at Tejon Ranch Commerce Center, nearly an hour north of Santa Clarita, as the firm bets big on the area's logistics potential. The development, a joint venture with Tejon Ranch Co., reflects a broader trend of industrial tenants and developers looking north and east of Los Angeles due to a lack of large, empty warehouses, limited land availability, and high costs in the metro area.

The new facility sits on a 24.6-acre site at the crossroads of Interstate 5 and Highway 99 and can accommodate either a single tenant or multiple tenants. Slated for completion in 2027, the project features high clearances, 100 dock-high doors, 185-foot cross-dock truck courts, and 4,000 square feet of office space. The Commerce Center itself covers nearly 1,500 acres, and to date roughly 7 million square feet of industrial space has been developed there, all of it fully occupied by companies including Ikea, Nestlé USA, L'Oréal, Caterpillar, and Dollar General. Another 11 million square feet of industrial space remains to be developed at the center.

This marks Dedeaux's second project at Tejon Ranch and its first direct partnership with Tejon Ranch Co. The firm previously purchased, developed, and sold a 233,000-square-foot warehouse at the center in 2024 to a national clothing and textile distributor that relocated from the Inland Empire. "We have tremendous respect for the Tejon Ranch Co. and what they've built," said Rishi Thakkar, Dedeaux's senior director of investments, who cited the site's "development potential" and how quickly existing buildings leased up. Brett Dedeaux, the firm's chief executive, called the center "one of the most compelling development sites in the state," adding that the joint venture "reflects what we believe is a repeatable model."

JLL executive vice president Jay Cuccia, who's working with both companies, said Tejon Ranch offers key advantages over the Inland Empire, including better access to Northern California and markets like Seattle, plus rents often 50% less than L.A. The site provides access to 54 million people within a one-day truck drive, and everything at the center is pre-entitled, meaning the timeframe to build is "shorter than you'll find anywhere else in California." The center also has Foreign Trade Zone designation, allowing tenants to defer, reduce, or eliminate customs duties on imported goods without going through a separate application process. Thakkar noted that assembling 25 acres for development is "very challenging" elsewhere, and he expects the new facility to attract strong interest due to limited comparable products. "L.A. is growing in every direction. It is very land-constrained," he said. "For that reason, you're seeing growth outside of (the city proper)."