Originally published on May 23, 2024, by Chris Grant for NAIOP.

For many decades, the construction industry has played a vital role in reshaping communities, standing as a key indicator of economic performance and prosperity. In more recent years, labor challenges have shifted the industry’s progression, threatening to disrupt integral projects and new developments throughout the country. With issues such as a shortage of skilled laborers and the need for new technology and software, today’s general contractors are faced with many industry-specific challenges that require innovative strategies and effective planning to guarantee continued success.

OVERCOMING THE SKILLED LABOR SHORTAGE

One of the most widely known issues faced by the construction industry is the need for skilled labor. As the current workforce retires and the next generation pursues alternative career paths, the industry must find new ways to retain the knowledge and skills to successfully operate large-scale construction projects. One way to attract more individuals to pursue the trades is to partner with local high schools and technical colleges to showcase the various roles and specialty areas needed on every job site. This gives students a firsthand look at what a construction career could look like and offers a valuable alternative to traditional higher education. It’s also important to retain the processes, insights, and knowledge of the retiring generation and ensure this information is accessible to future project teams and leaders. By taking these extra steps, you can help new laborers achieve confidence in their roles and deliver high-quality results on each job site.

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Originally published on June 5, 2024, by Brielle Scott for NAIOP.

ABCO Systems started as a pipe and rail provider in New York City’s Garment District over 30 years ago, but as automation and increasing consumer demands have increased the need for more efficient goods distribution, the company has evolved to build and integrate material handling solutions designed for the modern era.

Attendees at I.CON East had the opportunity to tour the company’s facility in Carlstadt, New Jersey, which showcases the latest cutting-edge automation, storage and order fulfillment technologies transforming warehouse and distribution operations. Of the dozens of robotic, artificial intelligence-enabled, cutting-edge tools demonstrated, we’ll highlight a few.

Have you ever received a package with your item thrown inside, surrounded by bubble wrap in an oversized box? The FastFetch IntelliPack® uses AI and computations to select and identify correctly sized packing cartons, tracks replenishment of consumed cartons, and manages carton reordering from a supplier. It cuts shipping costs, reduces packaging labor, reduces landfill waste and reduces fuel consumption required for transporting packages.

Originally published on June 6, 2024, by Brielle Scott for NAIOP.

Given the explosion in new construction, the important role of Class B (and even C) industrial properties is often overlooked – especially those under 100,000 square feet. These buildings remain a functional and economic solution to a wide range of companies, even without most modern efficiencies.

At I.CON East this week in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jim Scott, principal at Avison Young, moderated a panel that included Nick Aileo, director of acquisitions for Wharton Equity Partners; Itay Ron, senior vice president for Northeast markets at Faropoint; and Stefan Sansone, director at Bridge Industrial.

He started by sharing fundamentals for Class B properties, which account for 8.5 billion square feet or 70% of all U.S. inventory. Class B properties have the lowest vacancy rates by asset class, with much less volatility than Class A properties, and have seen continued rent growth, with a narrowing spread compared to Class A properties, Scott shared.

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Originally published on March 4, 2024, by Lucian Alixanderescu for NAIOP.

For the last few years, industrial real estate development has been on a tear, thanks to elevated demand for warehouse space. Specifically, increased demand for e-commerce – in conjunction with logistical difficulties – led companies to break ground on massive logistics and distribution centers. Now, with warehouse space vacancies normalizing and speculative projects slowing down, CommercialCafe highlighted the next trend taking hold in industrial space construction: manufacturing facilities, particularly for electric vehicles (EVs) and semiconductors.

In a study analyzing the current state of industrial real estate construction and the current pipeline, CommercialCafe highlighted which markets have the most industrial space underway, as well as the largest projects slated for completion in 2024.

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Originally published on November 20, 2023 by J. Byron Brazier for NAIOP.

When you travel to a different country, you expect to encounter a different landscape, culture and customs. But in many parts of the U.S., communities mere blocks or miles apart feel like wholly distinct worlds. Take Chicago: Its beautiful architecture and stunning lakeshore belie the staggering economic disparities among neighborhoods and real estate developments. 

In Lincoln Park, a community on Chicago’s North Side, the median income is $123,044 and 85.6% of residents have a bachelor’s or graduate degree. Nearly 80% of Lincoln Park’s residents are white. Ten miles south, in the Woodlawn community, the median income is $28,794 and 26.1% of residents have a bachelor’s or higher degree. Eighty percent of Woodlawn’s residents are Black. 

Drive through Lincoln Park and you’ll see high-end workout facilities, a range of shops and restaurants and an enormous Whole Foods. Drive through Woodlawn and you’ll spy far fewer amenities. Of these two communities, you can probably guess which has enjoyed large-scale, sustained investment and which has experienced underinvestment and systemic inequities. 

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Originally published on October 19, 2023, by Victor Whitman.

Mass timber has a bright future within commercial real estate development but there are special hurdles that developers and builders must learn about and overcome, according to commercial real estate experts at NAIOP’s CRE.Converge in Seattle. 

Mass timber is an engineered wood product typically made of large panels or beams that are manufactured off-site. The products are engineered to bear weight like steel or concrete but are of lighter weight. Because it is lighter and prefabricated, it can cut down on construction times and also reduce labor costs. The product is also considered more environmentally friendly.

“We’re still in this growth stage where we’re figuring out what products are moving toward standardization, which will make the building system more mainstream,” said mass timber consultant Erica Spiritos, owner, Erica Spiritos LLC, moderator of the panel discussion. Panelists included Robert Gerard, PE, senior discipline engineer, Coffman Engineers of San Diego; Seattle developer and now consultant A-P Hurd, president, SkipStone; and Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication, Skanska USA Building, Inc., in Seattle. 

Originally published on April 20, 2023, by Gary Tasman for NAIOP.

If you’ve ever attended a ceremonial groundbreaking for a school, restaurant, corporate headquarters, or other new building, you understand the symbolism of that first turn of the dirt. The groundbreaking ceremony signifies the physical start of a construction project. In most cases, however, months or even years have already been spent preparing the land for future growth, as planners and developers work behind the scenes to make the property “shovel-ready.”

Attempting to market a property that is not shovel-ready can be a significant barrier to making a commercial property sale. In fact, it’s hindered some significant transactions where our company is based in Southwest Florida. But what does it mean to have a shovel-ready property, and why is it so important?

What Does Shovel Ready Mean?

The term “shovel ready” became popular during the Great Recession as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The legislation placed funding priority on projects that could begin construction rapidly, in hopes of jumpstarting the economy by providing investment and employment opportunities quickly. The phrase became an important buzzword, and an even more important strategy, in commercial real estate.

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