CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE
SoCal Expanding
04-09-10
Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute
The number of major business expansions in Southern California during 2009 jumped
by about 10 percent over 2008, according to a report released by the Los Angeles
County Economic Development Corp., LAEDC. According to the report, there were
194 major expansions -- defined as a new lease or expansion of at least $1 million
in value or 20,000 square feet of more of space in 2009 in the five-county region
of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties last year.
That was up from 176 in 2008.
"This is welcome news," said LAEDC chief economist Nancy D. Sidhu. "Activity had
been declining since 2004 when 348 major expansion projects were recorded. The
total square footage recorded in 2009 was 21.5 million, up by 4.6 million square
feet from 2008. "Activity varied across the region and largely reflected the
disparity of the economic situations in the five counties, with some areas posting
sizable gains while others continued to languish."
In Los Angeles County, however, major expansions accounted for about 5.7 million
square feet last year, a drop of 1.9 million square feet from 2008. Orange County,
meanwhile, saw a major jump to more than 6 million square feet in 2009, compared
to just 2.2 million in the previous year. Riverside County saw a slight jump, with
major expansions totaling more than 4.3 million square feet, an increase of 180,776
over 2008.
"There is some light at the end of the recovery tunnel with Orange County and San
Bernardino County both experiencing noteworthy upswings in leasing activity," said
Jack Kyser, founding economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at LAEDC.
I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.
|
