Inland Empire: 3PLs still committing

Komar Distribution Services has opened a new distribution center in Perris, adding another large-box commitment to the Inland Empire’s warehouse market. (streetinsider.com) Komar said April 22 that the Perris site expands its West Coast footprint for retail, e-commerce and omnichannel customers. The company’s own site lists the facility at 800,000 square feet and says it serves cargo moving through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. (streetinsider.com) (komardistribution.com) Komar said the building is designed for high-volume fulfillment with automation and room to handle national retail programs. In a March report, *Modern Materials Handling* said Komar was deploying Exotec goods-to-person robotics at the Perris operation. (komardistribution.com) (mmh.com) The timing lands in a market that is no longer moving in one direction. NAI Capital said the Inland Empire posted $381.6 million in industrial sales in the first quarter of 2026, 2.8 million square feet of positive net absorption, and a 20-basis-point quarter-over-quarter drop in vacancy. (www2.naicapital.com) Those figures do not describe a full rebound across every landlord and submarket. CBRE said Inland Empire Core vacancy rose to 7.8% in the first quarter, while Cushman & Wakefield put the broader market’s overall vacancy at 8.5%, showing that empty space remains elevated even as leasing picked up. (cbre.com) (cushmanwakefield.com) What is changing is the mix of demand. CBRE said new leasing reached 13.6 million square feet in the quarter, up 40.2% from late 2025, while Kidder Mathews said availability improved from the prior quarter even with direct vacancy still at 7.7%. (cbre.com) (kidder.com) Perris keeps showing up in that equation because it offers cheaper land and operating costs than infill Los Angeles, while still sitting within truck reach of the San Pedro Bay ports and Southern California consumers. Riverside County’s economic development office said the Inland Empire entered 2026 with leasing around 50 million square feet in 2025 and positive absorption returning in late 2025. (rivcoed.org) Komar’s move is also a bet on scale. The company says it now operates facilities in California, Georgia and Oklahoma, and its Perris address has become a hub for West Coast warehousing, fulfillment and distribution. (komardistribution.com 1) (komardistribution.com 2) For Inland Empire landlords, one new building opening does not erase the region’s vacancy problem. But for operators still signing leases and installing automation, Perris remains a place to add capacity instead of waiting out the cycle. (savills.us) (komardistribution.com)