
E-Commerce Occupiers Cause U.S. Warehouse Size to Swell
The average footprint of warehouses built in the U.S. since the early 2000s has more than doubled as a result of e-commerce, according to a new report from CBRE. The largest expansions have been experienced in metro areas with the big populations that online sellers covet, and the ample land that developers need. That includes such markets as Atlanta (284% gain in average size), Cincinnati (237%) and the Inland Empire (222%).
The analysis of warehouses built from 2002 to 2007 compared to 2012 to 2017 found that the average size increased by 143% to 184,693 square feet, and the average warehouse clear height rose by 3.7 feet, to 32.3 feet in total.
CBRE’s industrial and logistics industry researcher David Egan says “This dramatic expansion of warehouse size and height in the U.S. is almost purely a product of e-commerce, which has created demand for massive warehouses with high ceilings to store extensive, fast-moving inventories.”
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