Panel: Industrial & Logistics Real Estate — The Decade's Best Bet?

Industrial and logistics real estate was the asset class of the post-COVID decade — vacancy rates at historic lows, rent growth outpacing every other sector, cap rate compression driving extraordinary returns for early investors. Then came the supply response: 600+ million square feet of new deliveries in 2023 and 2024 alone, pushing vacancy back up in many primary markets.

Is the industrial story over? Or is reshoring, nearshoring, and the onshoring of advanced manufacturing creating a demand wave that will absorb the new supply and then some? This panel takes the question seriously — with panelists who disagree on the answer.

Denise Fontaine (Senior Director, Cushman & Wakefield San Diego, $850M+ in industrial transactions) joins industrial specialists to debate the bull and bear cases with real data: which primary markets have peaked (Chicago, inland Southern California, Dallas); which secondary and tertiary markets are still showing genuine rent growth; how the reshoring narrative is playing out in actual signed leases vs. announced intentions; the sale-leaseback opportunity emerging as manufacturers need capital; last-mile logistics demand as e-commerce penetration plateaus; cold storage and life sciences industrial as specialty segments with different supply dynamics; and the impact of AI data center demand on industrial land pricing near power infrastructure.

Debate format: each panelist takes a position and defends it with data. Audience votes at the start and end — did anyone change your mind? Live Q&A throughout the second half. 1.25 CE credits.