M&M Mars Signs 500,000-SF Lease

June 15, 2011
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

M&M Mars and Stirling Capital Investments have closed a sweet deal allowing the candy company to occupy 495,000 square feet in a building at Stirling’s Southern California Logistics Centre in Victorville, Calif., under a 10-year lease agreement.

Situated in San Bernardino County, Victorville is an Inland Empire submarket approximately 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles. M&M Mars’ new home is located in a new 1 million square-foot building at 13133 Innovation Way, which sits within the 2,500-acre SCLC commercial and industrial complex at the 8,500-acre Global Access Victorville, the largest fully-integrated commercial development in the region. Stirling and the City of Victorville are partners on the behemoth project that involves the redevelopment of the former George Air Force Base. Global Access in an ideal location for manufacturers that require various modes of transportation, as it is positioned within close proximity to air, ground and rail accommodations. The compound is also in a Foreign Trade Zone.

M&M Mars will utilize 13133 Innovation as a warehouse and distribution center to serve retailers across the country’s Southwestern region. The confections company will fit right in at SCLC, as its list of neighbors includes Dr Pepper Snapple Group, bottled water supplier Sparkletts, ConAgra Foods and energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull, which recently signed on to occupy 12,500 square feet of space in a 1 million square-foot industrial building at SCLC.

“SCLC is becoming a premier destination for Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries due to its strategic access to markets throughout the Southwestern United States,” Brian Parno, chief operating officer of Stirling Development, the managing partner of Stirling Capital Investments, noted in a prepared statement. “Many large, multinational companies are making a long-term commitment to SCLC and the Victor Valley.” And such is the case across the Inland Empire. As per a report by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield: “Lower vacancy rates, especially in product over 500,000 square feet, which now has only a 7 percent vacancy rate, led to the first speculative development in the IE in more than two years.”

Cushman and Wakefield represented M&M Mars in the lease transaction, valued at $17.5 million, while CB Richard Ellis stood in for Stirling. M&M’s relocation from its previous home in the 233-acre Foxborough Industrial Park means the company is maintaining its presence in Victorville. The city has quite a steep vacancy rate, 24.3 percent according to Cushman & Wakefield; however, options in its hunt for a half-a-million square-foot space there were slightly limited as Victorville’s inventory of industrial properties totals just 5.8 million square feet.