The unprecedented boom in logistics warehousing demand is now about a decade old. During most of the past 10 years, it was a safe bet that the aging of the industrial warehouse stock wasn’t considered a high priority. Stakeholders had their hands full just keeping up with demand for capacity that hit like a ton of bricks and has barely abated.
Yet the warehouse inventory hasn’t gotten any younger, and in some markets it is getting downright old. In a March report, real estate services giant JLL Inc. (NYSE: JLL) estimated that the average age of the country’s industrial warehouse product is 42 years. Buildings constructed more than two decades ago account for three-quarters of the total industrial supply, with more than one-quarter of all inventory over 50 years of age, JLL said.