Excerpt by Ian Ritter, GlobeSt.com: Read the Full Story

Someone once asked Jesse James why he robbed banks, and he said, ‘That’s where the money is.’ The same sentiment holds true for Southern California where the coastal communities, for the most part, are doing very well, Craig Killman of JLL points out.

The Forum Carlsbad is an open air, 265,000 square foot,
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The high-performing communities include San Diego’s North County coastal communities from La Jolla to Carlsbad; and Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties’ coastal communities from Laguna Beach up through Santa Barbara. One factor that catapulted these areas into recovery was when the single-family housing market fell apart during the recession, the multifamily sector took off. People opted to rent in places where they could live, work, play and shop, and use what little public transportation that Southern California has to offer. As the price of fuel continues to rise, there will be more pressure on shorter commutes and telecommuting in general; this is how the next generation wants to work.

E-commerce continues to drive the West Coast real estate market, as retailers continue to offer next-day or same-day delivery service. “It’s hard to offer that kind of model if you’re not in close proximity to the population, so we’re seeing Industrial development surge inland from the major coastal cities. The new distribution centers require more labor and workforce density than previous industrial demands — and that workforce needs places to live and shop,” says Killman. “It’s not quite as glamorous of a story as the coast, but nonetheless it’s job creation and it is what’s helping the Inland Empire communities, stabilize and grow.”

To learn more about how SoCal’s restaurant, grocery and fast casual apparel sectors are fairing read the full story on Globest.com.