V
oyant Beauty, a cosmetics company based in Chicago, has recently leased three industrial warehouses at the Rexford Mason Business Center located at 9200-9250 Mason Avenue, totaling 180,000 square feet. The lease was facilitated by brokers Erica Balin and Scott Caswell of Lee & Associates on behalf of Voyant. The terms of the agreement between Voyant and landlord Rexford Industrial Realty, based in Brentwood, remain undisclosed.

    According to Michael Partridge, head of L.A. operations for Voyant Beauty, the company prioritized operational efficiency and plans to move into the new campus on Mason Avenue early next year. This move will enable the team to consolidate most of their manufacturing operations into one site.

    Rexford Industrial Realty is also planning to renovate the warehouse complex, which was built between 1968 and 1980, according to their website. However, details about the renovation are currently unavailable.

    Voyant's leases in the northwest end of the San Fernando Valley are part of a series of recent industrial deals in Chatsworth. Last month, Neutraderm, a locally based cosmetics firm, purchased a 59,400-square-foot manufacturing building at 20680 Nordhoff Street for $21 million, or $354 per square foot. This acquisition brings Neutraderm's total property holdings on the same block to three.

    In another transaction, a joint venture between Beverly Hills-based Center Capital Partners, Authentic Capital Group in Malibu, and New York-based TPG Angelo Gordon paid $41.5 million for a 150,000-square-foot industrial building at 9401 De Soto Avenue. This works out to $277 per square foot, which is 80 percent more than the building traded for seven years ago.

    The greater San Fernando Valley currently has an industrial vacancy rate of 1.6 percent, making it the lowest among Los Angeles-area submarkets. Its availability rate is also 3 percent, which is the lowest among all submarkets. The average asking rate for industrial space in this area is $1.60 per square foot.

    Rexford Industrial Realty is focusing on smaller buildings that average 26,000 square feet to weather the national warehouse slump. In June, the REIT's warehouse vacancy rate was 2.7 percent, lower than the overall Southern California infill market vacancy rate of 3.9 percent. Across the nation, the industrial vacancy rate was 7.1 percent, up from 4.7 percent a year earlier.