ATLANTA—The ever-changing demands of today's e-commerce user create challenges related to the design and future functionality of modern industrial warehouse and distribution properties. That's the topic of a workshop at NAIOP's E.CON '15: The E-Commerce Conference.

GlobeSt.com caught up with Chris Riley, vice chairman at CBRE, who's moderating The Investor's Guide to the E-Commerce Galaxy at the event. In part one of this exclusive interview, Riley talks about how e-commerce is impacting industrial design, the challenges involved—and how developers are overcoming these challenges. Be sure to return to this afternoon's Atlanta edition to get Riley's perspectives on how industrial developers are responding to the changing landscape and other topics.

GlobeSt.com: How does the functionality of industrial need to change in an e-commerce age?

Riley: The biggest difference is in the design. Facilities are designed around the material handling system that the user is going to employ.

It affects it from floor to ceiling—including building dimensions, column spacing, loading doors, clear span heights, electrical power, floor load, etc. The facility is customized around the receiving, storage, and shipping operation. Also for e-commerce facilities, as a result of the increased employee load, above standard auto parking is a typical requirement.

GlobeSt.com: What types of challenges does e-commerce bring to the design and future functionality of modern industrial warehouse and distribution properties?

Riley: Many e-commerce facilities contain large structured mezzanine areas that are customized to the tenant's operation and may not be readily reusable to another tenant. This is both a high cost to construct and a high cost to remove. Also, due to the need for large auto parking lots, a building's site coverage is much lower than normal, causing the land cost to be excessive.

GlobeSt.com: How are industrial developers and landlords tackling those challenges?

Riley: The most practical approach is to make the tenant responsible for removing the mezzanine area when they vacate the building, thus making it more usable and leaseable to a wider audience of tenants. As to the excess land, this can be designed for future building expansion or as a dedicated trailer storage lot.