According to the latest stats from the chamber of commerce, air cargo increased 51.7% in the past year–three times the national rate–and some are placing international air cargo up 1,000%. “Due to the increased cargo activity, we believe a number of distribution and logistics companies will be wanting to expand,” says Janeff.

The seeds already have been sown by other developers, in particular Howard Yancy's Met Center, a 193-acre business park with the potential of six million sf. Some two million sf has delivered and most of that is filled in the Zydeco Development project, says Janeff. But that project has strayed from the L&D strategy and now hosts motels and restaurants as well as business offices, with only a few tenants having airport-related operations.Weedman, in a recent report, says the infrastructure's in place for “rapid industrial development” for the southeast submarket. Entitled land is carrying price tags upward of $2.20 per sf. In her report, Weedman says word has it that Lockheed Corp. has snagged a couple of letters of intent for its airport-abutting tract.

“It's just a matter of getting a deal done, getting them in that space and getting them going,” Janeff says of the L&D operators being wooed by the multiple of landowners in the area.