An entity linked to asset manager BlackRock is testing just how hot the South Bay has gotten, quietly putting a 206,500-square-foot Torrance warehouse on the block with an asking price near $102 million, roughly $495 per square foot. The timing lands as the South Bay industrial scene runs hotter than the broader Los Angeles market, with off-market trades and record institutional deals pushing local benchmarks above citywide averages.
The offering, which is being marketed by CBRE, lists the property at 1540 Francisco Street and shows the owner is asking $102 million for the 206,500-square-foot building, according to The Real Deal. CBRE's online property page names John Schumacher and Caroline Reid as the listing brokers and highlights 33 dock-high doors and a 145-foot secured truck yard, per CBRE. The Real Deal also reports that BlackRock and Caroline Reid declined to comment and that Schumacher did not respond to requests for comment.
Nearby Sale Sets The Bar
Last month, Link Logistics sold a roughly 265,000-square-foot industrial building at 588 Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance for about $123 million, roughly $460 per square foot, a benchmark that underscores the premium for infill South Bay product, according to Commercial Observer. The off-market trade closed in mid February and landed with a private buyer that used acquisition financing, a sign that deep-pocketed investors are still chasing well-located facilities.
Institutional Premiums Keep Expanding
Institutional players are not exactly sitting on the sidelines. In 2025, Morgan Stanley paid about $211 million, roughly $1,500 per square foot, for a newly developed distribution center near LAX, the largest industrial sale of the year, per CoStar. Record buys like that help explain why sellers are now testing higher price points in Torrance and other port-adjacent submarkets.
Market Data And Who’s Paying Up
Market research puts average Los Angeles industrial sale prices near $385 per square foot and shows South Bay submarkets trading with low to mid single-digit vacancy, conditions that keep upward pressure on pricing, according to Kidder Mathews. Kidder Mathews points to aerospace, satellite, advanced manufacturing and emerging nuclear-energy firms as principal demand drivers in El Segundo, Hawthorne, Torrance and Long Beach.
What It Means For Torrance
For buyers and occupiers, the BlackRock offering at 1540 Francisco Street will be a test of whether Torrance can sustain premium pricing for large, single-tenant distribution assets. As Kidder Mathews put it, quoted in market coverage, "sellers adjusted and buyers seized long-term opportunities in locations once priced at pandemic highs," a dynamic that will shape bidding for this asset and others across the South Bay, according to Kidder Mathews.
