Apex Real Estate Services · DRE #01422904 · CCIM-Led
Hemet, CA · (951) 977-3251
Fontana commercial real estate sits inside CoStar’s Airport Area submarket, the largest industrial submarket in the Inland Empire, which Fontana shares with Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. This guide covers recent Fontana sales, industrial and retail vacancy, what the City is approving, and what it all means for tenants, landlords, buyers and owner-users.
Fontana commercial real estate is a logistics-led market inside CoStar’s Airport Area submarket, which also covers Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. Industrial vacancy there is 8.2%, with negative 12-month absorption and slipping rents. Retail vacancy is 4.1%, the third-lowest in the Inland Empire. Direct access to I-10, I-15 and SR-210 underpins its logistics base.
If you are searching commercial real estate in Fontana, CA, read the market by asset type. Investors still pay for new, leased industrial buildings: a 2023-built Fontana warehouse sold for $294 per SF in October 2025. Meanwhile industrial tenants have more leverage, retail space is tight, and land decisions turn on entitlements more than acreage.
CoStar places Fontana in its Airport Area submarket, together with Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. Every submarket figure on this page describes that wider submarket, not Fontana’s city limits.
The Airport Area holds about 259.2 million SF of industrial space in 3,503 buildings, 32.6% of the Inland Empire total and the largest share of any submarket, and it delivered 1.33 million SF in the past 12 months, the third-most of any submarket. Its $1.04 billion in 12-month industrial sales narrowly led the Inland Empire’s submarkets, just ahead of the San Bernardino submarket. For how a nearby submarket compares, see our guide to Riverside commercial real estate.
| Airport Area Metric | Industrial | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | ~259.2M SF (#1 in IE) · 3,503 buildings | ~27.3M SF (#1 in IE) · 2,133 buildings |
| Vacancy rate | 8.2% | 4.1% (3rd-lowest in IE) |
| 12-mo net absorption | −862,131 SF | 33,796 SF |
| Asking rent (12-mo change) | $1.06/SF (−1.2%) | $2.55/SF (+3.4%) |
| Under construction | 5.58M SF · 29.6% pre-leased | 215K SF · 91.9% pre-leased |
| 12-mo sales volume | $1.04B · 96 sales | $701.8M · 88 sales |
| Market cap rate · price/SF | 4.7% · $280/SF | 6.5% · $308/SF |
Metro-wide, CoStar puts Inland Empire industrial vacancy at 8.7%. The Airport Area is slightly tighter, but its absorption ranked 13th of 15 submarkets. For how availability compares across Inland Empire submarkets, see our guide to Inland Empire warehouse availability.
Location. Fontana has direct access to three highway corridors, Interstates 10 and 15 and State Route 210, and sits on the goods-movement corridors that run inland from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The City’s General Plan credits that position for Fontana’s growth in logistics and warehousing, and adds freight and commuter rail to the advantages. CoStar says Inland Empire construction activity remains concentrated in the Airport Area submarket, including Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, “reflecting proximity to Los Angeles and rail access to the ports.” CoStar also lists Fontana among the Inland Empire cities with more than 200,000 residents.
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority is adding eight miles of express lanes on I-15 between Cantu-Galleano Ranch Road and Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga, the corridor on Fontana’s western edge. SBCTA says that stretch, which includes the SR 60 and I-10 interchanges, serves 50 percent of the interstate truck traffic to and from Southern California.
In early 2026 a global shipping and logistics company opened a 165,000-SF ground-freight hub in Fontana with 22 doors and a fleet of 18 vehicles.
For Airport Area rents, vacancy and deliveries alongside the rest of the region, see the Inland Empire industrial market report.
Six Fontana sales on CoStar’s Q3 2026 list of recent significant Airport Area industrial sales ran from $158 to $294 per SF between October 2025 and September 2026. The two 2023-built buildings sold for $265 and $294 per SF, while the 1.1 million SF Sierra Business Park building, built in 2006, sold for $158 per SF.
| Property | Size · Built | Leased at Sale | Date | Price · $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10681 Production Ave, Bldg 6, Sierra Business Park (92337) | 1,101,900 SF · 2006 | 100% | Nov 2025 | $174.3M · $158/SF |
| 11119 Juniper Ave (92337) | 436,424 SF · 2023 | 100% | Oct 2025 | $128.5M · $294/SF |
| 13201 Dahlia St (92337), portfolio sale | 278,650 SF · 1989 | 100% | Sep 2026 | $62M · $223/SF |
| 6260 Mango Ave (92336), owner-user purchase | 113,930 SF · 2023 | 0% | Feb 2026 | $30.2M · $265/SF |
The top price, $294 per SF, went to a new, fully leased building. The Mango Avenue sale shows the other path: a business buying a vacant 2023 building for its own use at $265 per SF. If you are weighing that path, start with our guide to buying your own warehouse with an SBA 504 loan.
Price against yield, not just $/SF. CoStar models the Airport Area industrial market cap rate at 4.7%, while cap rates on Inland Empire logistics sales over $10 million have expanded by about 150 to 200 basis points, to the mid-5% to 6% range, from averages below 4%. See how cap rates are calculated before you compare offers. For the broader Inland Empire cap rate picture, see our Inland Empire industrial cap rates guide.
For now, largely yes. The Airport Area posted −862,131 SF of industrial net absorption over 12 months, asking rent slipped 1.2%, and only 29.6% of the 5.58 million SF under construction is pre-leased.
CoStar reports that landlords often offer several months of free rent, and cites a Fontana example: a 223,000-SF building leased on a 6-year, 4-month term at a starting rate of $1.08 per SF net, monthly, with 6 months free at the start. Across the metro, sublease space still makes up an elevated 19% of total availability.
Renewals are the next pressure point. Apex’s count of a CoStar export of Fontana tenant locations with leases expiring within 18 months, as of April 1, 2026, found 60 locations totaling roughly 3 million SF, most of it industrial. Tenants in that window should test the market before extending; landlords should price renewals early.
If you are looking at commercial property for lease in Fontana, CA, negotiate free rent, starting rate, escalations and term as one package. Our tenant representation page explains where that leverage sits, and our breakdown of what warehouse space costs across the Inland Empire covers cost questions.
Tight on vacancy, modest on absorption. CoStar puts Airport Area retail vacancy at 4.1%, the third-lowest of the Inland Empire’s 15 retail submarkets, while 12-month net absorption was just 33,796 SF.
CoStar says retail submarkets tied to stronger residential growth continue to outperform, and notes that most new Airport Area retail projects sit near large housing developments or industrial nodes. Availability there has risen from a 3.5% low in 2023 to 5.2%. The supply side stays disciplined: two retail buildings totaling about 215,000 SF are under construction, and 91.9% of that space is already pre-leased. Market asking rent in the submarket is $2.55 per SF per month, up 3.4% year over year.
CoStar reports that neighborhood centers make up roughly 40% of the Inland Empire’s retail inventory, well above the national average. Fontana’s clearest recent example: the 53,700-SF main anchor of the Citrus Crossroads neighborhood center, preleased to a grocery operator, sold for $17.8 million, or $331 per SF, at a 5.4% cap rate in April 2025. That is well inside the Airport Area’s 6.5% retail market cap rate, and CoStar notes that high-quality single-tenant net-leased assets continue to command tighter yields. CoStar also reports that the store has since closed, as part of its operator’s national pullback from that grocery format, and that the space was offered for sublease in Q2 2026.
Buyers of grocery-anchored or single-tenant assets are usually buying a triple net (NNN) lease, so read the lease before the rent roll. For the full regional picture, see the Inland Empire retail market report.
The City is still approving projects, but selectively. The City’s 2025 annual report lists 466,570 SF entitled for commercial use, and its Planning Commission approved two small industrial buildings (reported in March 2026), yet CoStar notes that Fontana has also recently rejected industrial proposals, which it says were rare in the past.
A note on AB 98. Apex Real Estate Services is not a law firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice. Confirm AB 98 and truck-route requirements for any site with your attorney before you sign.
For context, the City’s 2018 General Plan notes that warehouses typically produce about one job per 3,000 SF, versus one per 250 SF for office.
Buy entitlement certainty, not acreage alone. We don’t quote Fontana land pricing here because we have no current sourced figure; value turns on zoning, entitlement status and the City’s appetite for your use.
The City’s 2018 General Plan said Fontana had more vacant land than surrounding cities, but that much of it was already entitled and was expected to be developed by 2025. That horizon has passed. One recent approval covered a 3.98-acre site for two industrial buildings, reported in March 2026. With the City rejecting some industrial proposals, an unentitled logistics site carries more approval risk.
Before you tie up a parcel, confirm zoning, entitlements, truck access and the approval path, and compare it with the wider Inland Empire land market.
Logistics, healthcare and retail. The City’s 2025 annual report ranks healthcare, transportation, retail, education and accommodation as Fontana’s top five employment industries, citing JobsEQ data for Q3 2025.
Beacon Economics’ Employment Trends Report for the City shows how specialized the base is. Transportation, warehousing and utilities employment is 3.3 times as concentrated in Fontana as in California; retail trade is 1.7 times. Fontana had 4,513 warehousing and storage jobs in Q2 2024, down 5.3% in a year but up 165.2% over five years. In that April 2025 report, Beacon called logistics one of Fontana’s most specialized industries and flagged that newly announced federal tariffs could have a measurable impact on logistics-connected businesses in the city.
The industrial identity is old. Henry Kaiser came to Fontana in 1942 and established Kaiser Steel, and the City still names manufacturers, transporters and logistics businesses as its key industries. That concentration is both the draw and the risk: demand runs deep, and it moves with the goods-movement cycle.
Apex Real Estate Services represents tenants, landlords, buyers and sellers of Fontana commercial property, and assignments are led by Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM, Associate Broker · Commercial Division. Robert’s transaction history includes the Ontario–Fontana corridor, backed by more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience.
Joseph Lombera, Commercial Agent and CMO (DRE #01971957), supports market research and outreach.
CoStar places Fontana in its Airport Area submarket, which also includes Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. It is the largest industrial submarket in the Inland Empire, with 32.6% of the market’s inventory, per CoStar, Q3 2026. Its figures describe the whole submarket, not Fontana alone.
CoStar reports 8.2% industrial vacancy for the Airport Area submarket, which includes Fontana, as of Q3 2026, with −862,131 SF of net absorption over the prior 12 months.
Fontana has direct access to Interstate 10, Interstate 15 and State Route 210, on the goods-movement corridors from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, per the City’s General Plan. The nearby I-15 stretch through the I-10 interchange serves 50 percent of interstate truck traffic to and from Southern California, per SBCTA.
Six Fontana industrial sales that CoStar highlighted between October 2025 and September 2026 traded at $158 to $294 per SF. The largest was a 1,101,900-SF Sierra Business Park building at $174.3 million, and a vacant 2023-built building of 113,930 SF sold to an owner-user for $30.2 million.
Yes on vacancy, with a caveat. CoStar puts Airport Area retail vacancy at 4.1%, the third-lowest of the Inland Empire’s 15 retail submarkets, and ties the stronger retail submarkets to residential growth. But availability has risen to 5.2% from a 3.5% low in 2023, and 12-month net absorption was a modest 33,796 SF.
Often, yes. CoStar reports that Inland Empire landlords often offer several months of free rent, citing a 223,000-SF Fontana lease at a starting rate of $1.08 per SF net, monthly, with 6 months free. Only 29.6% of the 5.58 million SF under construction in the Airport Area is pre-leased, which keeps that pressure on.
Selectively. The Planning Commission approved two small industrial buildings of 41,218 and 30,767 SF, as reported in March 2026, but CoStar reports Fontana has also recently rejected industrial proposals. The City approved a truck-route map to comply with AB 98. Apex is not a law firm, so confirm AB 98 requirements with your attorney.
Leasing a warehouse, renewing a tenant, buying for your own operation, or valuing what you own: tell us the address or the requirement. You get a CCIM-led read on Fontana commercial real estate, grounded in sourced data.
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Apex Real Estate Services · 3750 E. Florida Ave Suite A, Hemet, CA 92544 · Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM, Associate Broker · Commercial Division, CA DRE #01422904 · (951) 977-3251. Reviewed by Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM (DRE #01422904). Last updated: October 4, 2026. Submarket figures are for CoStar’s Airport Area submarket, which includes Fontana, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, Q3 2026, not Fontana city limits. Apex is not a law, tax or accounting firm; consult your attorney or CPA. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed; verify all figures before transacting.
