When many investors think of “institutional property,” visions arise of trophy office towers, high-end shopping complexes or internationally recognized destination resorts. But in today’s market, add to that list plebeian waterfront properties in a growing number of port cities, including Los Angeles. Indeed, buyers might pay nearly as much for a warehouse as a downtown office building on a per-square-foot basis, a situation unheard of only a few years back.

In December 2014, for example, Rexford Industrial Properties, a public REIT specializing in Southern California industrial-warehouse properties, bought a 63,654-square-foot, logistics-oriented warehouse complex near the ports and Los Angeles Airport for $173 per square foot.

To put that per-square-foot figure in context, recall in 2013 the tallest, most iconic and best-known office skyscraper in Los Angeles’ downtown — the U.S. Bank Tower — sold for $262 a square foot, admittedly higher than Rexford Ind