Global Trade Sparks Toronto Industrial Growth

TORONTO-Southern Ontario has long had a thriving manufacturing industry, accounting for half of all of the exports sent out of the country. Now imports are heating up due to the growth of the Canadian dollar and the following consumer demand.

That has led to increased pressure on industrial facilities such as ports, railroads and airports, and AMB Property Corp. has reacted to that activity by building three million sf of industrial facilities around the area. Gene Reilly, president of the Americas for the San Francisco-based industrial REIT, will speak about his firm’s experiences and the overall southern Ontario market in a keynote address at the inaugural RealShare Toronto conference on May 6.

Earlier this month, the company pre-leased 309,000 sf to 3M at AMB Milton 401 Business Park that will start construction later this year and is scheduled for completion in 2010. The Toronto area is considered by AMB as the fourth-largest industrial market in North America behind Los Angles, Chicago and the New York City area.