Apex Real Estate Services · DRE #01422904 · CCIM-Led
Hemet, CA · (951) 977-3251
Exclusive agency leasing for owners of small-bay industrial, strip retail, and office property — priced off transacted comps, not the last rent signed in your building.
Commercial landlord representation in the Inland Empire is exclusive agency leasing: one broker prices your vacancy from real transacted comps, markets it, canvasses tenants, vets credit and use, and negotiates the lease. The goal is effective rent net of concessions and a tenant who still pays in year four — not the highest headline asking rate.
Reviewed by Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM (DRE #01422904), Associate Broker, Apex Real Estate Services · Last updated: September 30, 2026
Seven jobs, in order. The full owner-side process is in Apex’s guide to how to lease commercial property.
Asking rent is the number that is easy to find, and the one nobody transacts at. Apex is headquartered in Hemet — the East side, where CoStar reports rents down more severely.
Brokers have noted that effective rental rates are up to 40% lower, depending on location, size, and vintage, with rents on the East side of the market down more severely.
CoStar publishes that figure alongside an asking-rent average that “trends approximately 25% below its 2023 peak.” CoStar does not state what the 40% is measured against, so read it as the upper bound, not the typical deal.
CoStar Group, Inland Empire Industrial Market Report, Q3 2026 (dated September 30, 2026).
CoStar’s submarket data shows where the pressure sits. Ten of the 15 Inland Empire industrial submarkets still posted negative 12-month asking rent growth in Q3 2026, and the lowest rents sit on the East side — the market Apex works from.
| CoStar submarket | Asking rent | 12-mo change | Vacancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| West IE | |||
| Airport Area | $1.06 | −1.2% | 8.2% |
| Chino/Chino Hills | $1.08 | −1.0% | 6.2% |
| Corona/Eastvale | $1.24 | −0.1% | 7.5% |
| Upland/Montclair | $1.39 | 0% | 5.8% |
| East IE | |||
| Riverside | $1.07 | −0.8% | 7.5% |
| San Bernardino | $0.90 | −1.0% | 10.5% |
| Moreno Valley/Perris | $0.86 | −1.3% | 9.6% |
| Redlands/Loma Linda | $0.90 | −1.5% | 8.2% |
| Beaumont/Hemet | $0.93 | −0.8% | 19.7% |
Source: Apex’s analysis of CoStar data, Inland Empire Industrial Market Report, Q3 2026 (dated September 30, 2026). Rents are CoStar market asking rents per SF per month across all advertised rate types. CoStar submarkets are not city limits; the West/East grouping is Apex’s.
CoStar states one to several months of free rent is common for new, larger-sized leases of 5 years or longer. Two dated comps show the range — the shorter deal is the surprising one.
Hanchett Paper Company, May 2025: a 6-year, 4-month term at $1.08/SF net monthly, with 6 months free at start.
WECRO, August 2025: a 2-year, 4-month term with 4 months free at the start — proportionally more free rent than the six-year deal.
Both comps: CoStar Group, Inland Empire Industrial Market Report, Q3 2026 (dated September 30, 2026).
Free rent is a percentage of the term, and tenant improvement dollars sit in the same bucket. Apex models the concession package before pricing, so you choose an effective rent instead of discovering one.
Sublease space accounts for an elevated 19% share of total availability and trades at a discount of more than 20% compared to directly listed space (CoStar, Q3 2026) — your prospect is very likely touring one.
Size inverts the headline. CoStar reports availability highest at 18% in the 250,000–500,000 SF range, around 14% at 100,000–250,000 SF, and in the 12% range from 500,000 SF up, including buildings over 1 million SF; 50,000–100,000 SF trends at 10%, and buildings under 50,000 SF remain in stronger demand at under 7%. If you own small-bay, the coverage calling this a tenant’s market is describing someone else’s asset class.
On timing, no approved source publishes a median days-on-market for IE industrial. CoStar’s Q1 2026 retail report gave the one benchmark that exists — retail leasing at a median of around 7 months — and its Q3 2026 retail report does not update it. The single industrial data point is an outlier, not an average: iDC Logistics leased an 844,000 SF San Bernardino building in July 2025 after 30 months listed at $0.95/SF. See also warehouse space cost in the Inland Empire.
For a landlord this is not vocabulary. It decides your effective rent after expenses, how much recovery risk you carry, and how a buyer underwrites the income at exit.
| Structure | Who carries operating expenses | Landlord’s main exposure | Commonly fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triple net (NNN) | Tenant reimburses taxes, insurance, CAM | Recovery gaps and CAM disputes | Single-tenant industrial, pad retail |
| Gross / full service | Landlord, inside the quoted rent | Expense inflation compresses real rent | Multi-tenant office, small suites |
| Modified gross | Split, negotiated line by line | Ambiguity, and drift at renewal | Small-bay industrial, flex, strip retail |
Structural comparison prepared by Apex Real Estate Services. No market figures are implied — expense responsibility is whatever the executed lease says it is.
Two follow-on reads for owners: CAM charges, where recovery actually leaks, and the overview of types of commercial leases. Terms are defined in the commercial real estate glossary. For the year-end true-up, see our guide to CAM reconciliation.
Apex publishes no rate here for a specific reason: under the California DRE Reference Book, the amount of commission is set out in the broker’s contract of employment and negotiated between principal and broker — there is no rate set by law. The Reference Book also requires an agency agreement on owner-occupied residential property to state, in ten-point bold print or larger, that commission amounts are negotiable and are not set by law, and advises brokers to include that statement in all transactions. The mechanism, though, can be explained exactly.
Per the DRE Reference Book, an exclusive right listing makes the broker the sole agent for the sale, renting or leasing, or encumbering of the property, and the broker is entitled to a commission provided only that the property is sold, rented or leased, or encumbered during the listing period — regardless of who procures the buyer, the tenant or lessee, or lender.
Source: California Department of Real Estate, Reference Book, Chapter 10 (Agency), retrieved August 20, 2026.
When a tenant arrives with their own broker, that cooperating broker is compensated out of the listing side. The standard deciding who earned it is procuring cause — which the DRE defines as a cause originating or setting in motion a series of events which, without breaking their continuity, results in the accomplishment of the prime object of the employment of the broker. Apex publishes no split ratio because no approved source publishes one; it is negotiated in your listing agreement before the property goes to market.
Inland Empire industrial assets trade already leased — CoStar’s Q3 2026 capital markets data shows an average of 84.3% leased at sale across 453 transactions, against a 4.9% market cap rate and a 5.9% transaction average. A buyer is underwriting your tenant, your remaining term, and your escalations.
Brookfield sold a 526,000 SF building in San Bernardino to Overton Moore for $123 million — $234/SF at a reported year-one pro forma cap rate in the high 5% range, fully leased to Kohl’s with about 4.5 years remaining. The 56-acre site included about 30 acres of excess land, so that $234/SF also covers land the building does not use.
CoStar Group, Inland Empire Industrial Capital Markets Report, Q3 2026 (dated September 30, 2026); sale closed December 2025.
A lower rent from a stronger covenant on a longer term can be worth more at disposition than a headline rate from a thin tenant — see how to calculate a cap rate.
Per CoStar’s Q3 2026 Inland Empire industrial report, vacancy measures 8.7% and availability 12.5%, a 15-year high; market asking rent is $1.03/SF per month, asking rent growth is -0.9% year over year, and trailing 12-month net absorption of 6.1 million SF compares to a prior 10-year average of 17.2 million SF.
Timing cuts the other way. CoStar counts around 50 million SF of new leasing in 2025, only the second year the market has reached that level, and a new quarterly record of over 13 million SF in Q2 2026; net absorption dipped negative in Q2 but turned positive again in Q3; and CoStar’s house view has vacancy falling to 8% in 2027 and near 7% by the end of 2028, with less than 10 million SF forecast for completion in 2026 and 2027 — a term-length question for owners. Apex publishes a quarterly read in market reports and covers the region on its Inland Empire industrial and retail hubs.
CoStar’s Q3 2026 submarket table puts Beaumont/Hemet industrial vacancy at 19.7% — the highest of any Inland Empire submarket in the table, up from 1.1% at the end of 2025 — on 3,033,356 SF vacant, with -2,410,007 SF of 12-month net absorption, the weakest of the 15, and a $0.93/SF asking rent. CoStar’s submarket report attributes the rise to that negative absorption, with no new space delivered; the vacancy is concentrated in logistics buildings, which run 23.9% vacant, and CoStar forecasts submarket vacancy ending 2026 at 19.8%. Apex is headquartered at 3750 E. Florida Ave Suite A in Hemet. With availability at 24.0%, a local owner now competes for every tenant: price from effective rent and current comps, not the last rent signed, and market the space before the tenant tours someone else’s.
Per CoStar’s Q3 2026 Inland Empire retail report, strip centers run 5.3% vacancy and 6.1% availability at $2.03/SF across 15,753,594 SF of inventory; neighborhood centers run 7.8% vacancy and 8.6% availability at $2.29/SF, against a market overall at 6.0% vacancy, 6.6% availability, and $2.29/SF. Strip-center owners hold the tighter product. All retail figures here are CoStar, not blended with other publishers.
Desert owners face opposite problems by asset class. Per CoStar’s Q3 2026 submarket tables, Coachella Valley industrial asks $1.45/SF — first of all 15 Inland Empire industrial submarkets — at 4.3% vacancy, the lowest in the table, with +726,474 SF of 12-month absorption. CV retail asks $2.25/SF at 8.2% vacancy but posted -44,409 SF, the region’s second-weakest absorption. Hold rate on industrial; solve for velocity on retail. More on the Coachella Valley hub.
Opposite chairs at the same table. Landlord representation is exclusive agency for the owner: pricing, marketing, prospecting, credit vetting, and negotiating toward effective rent and asset value. Tenant representation works for the occupier — negotiating the same economics in the other direction, including the free rent and improvement dollars that come out of your effective rent.
The roles are joined by compensation: the cooperating broker who brings the tenant is paid from the listing side, which is why procuring cause exists in California agency law. Before signing, ask how your broker handles a tenant who arrives unrepresented. The term is defined in the glossary; a dedicated Apex tenant representation page is in production.
Per the CCIM Institute Portfolio of Qualifying Experience Handbook, candidates must document three or more qualifying activities totaling $30 million or more, or exactly ten totaling $10 million or more, or twenty without regard to dollar volume. Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM, Associate Broker, DRE #01422904.
The side of the market where CoStar reports rents down more severely is the one Apex works from an office inside it — 3750 E. Florida Ave Suite A, Hemet, CA 92544 — in a submarket where industrial vacancy has climbed to 19.7%, the highest of any Inland Empire submarket (CoStar, Q3 2026). When a submarket loosens that fast, pricing and marketing decide which buildings lease first.
Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM brings 20+ years, $500M+ in transaction volume, and 200+ deals closed, all career totals, not Apex-only or landlord-rep-specific. Apex does not publish lease-up averages it cannot source. Joseph Lombera, Commercial Agent + CMO (DRE #01971957), supports marketing.
A landlord rep broker takes exclusive responsibility for leasing your building: pricing it from transacted comps, marketing the availability, canvassing tenants and their brokers, qualifying tours, vetting tenant credit and intended use, negotiating the letter of intent and lease, and managing renewals before they become vacancies. Apex handles all of it under Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM (DRE #01422904) in Hemet, California.
Under an exclusive right to lease, the California DRE Reference Book explains the broker is entitled to a commission provided the property is rented or leased during the listing period, regardless of who procures the tenant. A tenant rep broker who brings the tenant is paid out of the listing side under the procuring cause standard. The Reference Book also explains the amount of commission is set out in the broker’s contract of employment and negotiated between principal and broker — there is no rate set by law.
Because published asking rents are not what owners collect. Per Apex’s analysis of CoStar data for Q3 2026, average Inland Empire asking rents for available industrial space sit about 25% below their 2023 peak and, with elevated concessions, brokers have noted effective rental rates up to 40% lower depending on location, size, and vintage, with East-side rents down more severely. Sublease space, which trades more than 20% below direct space, widens the gap further.
CoStar’s Q3 2026 Inland Empire industrial report states one to several months of free rent is common for new, larger-sized leases of 5 years or longer, and that leverage remains with occupiers. Two dated CoStar comps: Hanchett Paper leased 223,000 SF in Fontana in May 2025 on a 6-year, 4-month term at $1.08/SF net monthly with 6 months free, and WECRO leased 60,000 SF in Jurupa Valley in August 2025 on a 2-year, 4-month term with 4 months free.
No approved source publishes a median days-on-market for Inland Empire industrial space. For retail, the closest benchmark is dated: CoStar’s Q1 2026 Inland Empire retail report put retail leasing at a median of around 7 months, and its Q3 2026 report does not update that figure. The only published industrial figure is one outlier, not an average — CoStar reported iDC Logistics leasing an 844,000 SF San Bernardino building in July 2025 after 30 months listed at $0.95/SF.
It depends on which expenses you want to carry and how a buyer will underwrite the building later. Triple net shifts taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance to the tenant but exposes you to recovery gaps and CAM disputes. A gross lease is simpler for small suites but puts expense inflation on the owner. Modified gross splits the line items and is common on small-bay industrial and strip retail.
They are opposite sides of the same table. Landlord representation is exclusive agency for the owner, aimed at effective rent, tenant quality, and long-term asset value. Tenant representation works for the occupier, negotiating the same economics in the other direction — including the free rent and improvement dollars that reduce an owner’s effective rent. The two are joined by compensation, since the cooperating broker is paid from the listing side.
Send us the building. Apex prices it against transacted comps and the current concession environment, shows you the effective rent rather than the headline rate, and lays out the marketing plan before you sign anything.
Apex Real Estate Services · 3750 E. Florida Ave Suite A, Hemet, CA 92544 · DRE #01422904
Apex Real Estate Services · Robert Mendieta Jr., CCIM, Associate Broker, DRE #01422904 · 3750 E. Florida Ave Suite A, Hemet, CA 92544 · (951) 977-3251 · Joseph Lombera, Commercial Agent + CMO, DRE #01971957. Market data: Apex’s analysis of CoStar data (Inland Empire Industrial, Retail, Industrial Capital Markets, and Beaumont/Hemet Industrial Submarket reports, Q3 2026, dated September 30, 2026; Inland Empire Retail, Q1 2026, for the retail leasing-time benchmark only; U.S. Single-Tenant Net Lease Retail, Q1 2026), the California DRE Reference Book, and the CCIM Institute. Figures are subject to change and should be independently verified. Nothing here is a commission quote, a legal opinion, or a performance guarantee.
