Activity continues to be dominated by Amazon.com, which leased five buildings totaling 4.1 million square feet during the first half of '17 in the 14 markets highlighted in Colliers' new report, which for the first time covers secondary markets such as Cincinnati and the East Bay region along with the heavy hitters. “With all that has gone on with e-commerce and the renaissance of retail to industrial, I think you're going to see that continue,” Hotchkiss says.

“If the economy slows, you will see less demand from some of these firms, but there are so many that have yet to build out their strategies,” he adds. “Our three supply chain and logistics consultants have been so busy in meeting with clients, who are thirsting for strategy on where they should be in terms of site selection, that we see a large pipeline ahead.”

Given that, Hotchkiss points out, “there are still headwinds to look out for. There's been increased demand for smaller warehouses close to urban centers, which could peck away a little at the demand for big-box. There's a trend of lean warehousing on the rise with occupiers: leasing multiple buildings of 50,000 to 200,00 square feet versus one big box,” in order to focus on particular products and increase delivery speed to the end consumer.

Even so, Colliers sees plenty of momentum left in the big-box wave. “The North American economies remain strong, e-commerce continues to grow at a faster rate than traditional in-store retail and ports throughout North America continue to post growing inbound container volumes,” the report states. “These drivers should outweigh the headwinds and create strong demand and rental rate growth in big-box markets for the foreseeable future.”