18 American Journal of Transportation American Journal of Transportation ajot.com YOUR BUSINESS STARTS HERE 40,000+ ACRES READY FOR DEVELOPMENT 1000 Foust Road Brownsville, TX 78521 +1 (956) 831-4592 portofbrownsville.com CONTACT US THE PORT OF BROWNSVILLE ADVANTAGE Barge & Ocean-Going Vessel Service Foreign Trade Zone No. 62 Direct Access to USMCA Corridor Heavy Haul Corridor 19 General Cargo/Liquid Cargo Docks 24/7 Secured Facilites 4M+ sq. ft. Open/Covered Storage Skilled Workforce Is there a warehouse boom right around the corner? There are indications that a Distribution Center (DC) boom may be about to happen. And while the geo-political and regulatory headwinds are still blowing, momentum is gathering to add ware- house space…and to do it in a big way. By George Lauriat, AJOT (BOOM – continued on page 21) Coming out of the COVID pandemic, heightened demand for warehousing space fueled a frenzied warehouse build- ing spree that rolled into 2023. Since then the ware- housing market has entered a period of uneven develop- ment as geo-political, reg- ulatory rebuffs and other headwinds have tapped down building demand for ware- house properties. This isn’t to say that the demand for warehousing space evaporated. Moving away from the post- COVID boom, the demand for warehousing became more selective both in terms of size, locations and efficiency. Con- sequently, overall investment in US warehousing construc- tion slowed, although in some geographic areas like the Southeast and Gulf demand for space remained high. And the ongoing warehouse demand driven by the e-com- merce sector has continued to grow, although it has become more selective. However, now a number of industrial real estate ana- lysts believe the warehous- ing market is at an “inflection point” and beginning in late 2026 into 2027, there will be a rebound in warehousing construction. “Inflection Point”: Opening the Big-Box In a recently released report entitled “U.S. Warehousing Construction Set for Rebound in 2027”, Matthieu Kulezak, a senior analyst at Inter- act Analysis, introduced his research by stating, “2027 is shaping up to be a key inflec- tion point for US warehouse construction.” Matthieu isn’t alone in his belief that US warehousing is rapidly closing in on a build- ing spree. Clarion Partners, in a June report, said much the same, stating, “The conver- gence of long-term structural drivers and emerging cyclical tailwinds suggests the indus- trial sector may be approach- ing an inflection point, with conditions increasingly sup- portive of new development.” There are a number of industrial real estate market indicators now coalescing which underpin the conclu- sion of a near-term warehouse building surge. Among them is the return of the Big-Box to prominence. A research paper by the commercial real estate company Cushman & Wake- field entitled “Large-Format Deals Return” highlighted the Big-Box (warehouses over 500,000 sq/ft) demand on the upward swing in ware- housing construction. The Cushman & Wakefield report notes that Big-Box deals are up 32% year-over-year, with third-party logistics provid- ers (3PLs) and manufactur- ers tallying close to 66% of the total. What is telling in the report’s numbers is that newer, larger warehouse logistics facilities accounted JLL completed a $90.6 million industrial building sale for IndiCap, Invesco in Glendale, Arizona. LOGISTICS REAL ESTATE 2026
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