"Last Mile" Distribution Still in the Early Stages

The morning panel at yesterday’s RealShare Industrial conference in Chicago was moderated by Ronan Remandaban, co-founder and chief executive officer of Liquideed.

CHICAGO—The rise of e-commerce has created the demand for a vast amount of new industrial space, but it has also introduced a level of unpredictability not seen in past booms, RealShare Industrial panelists in Chicago said yesterday. Speakers at a morning panel moderated by Ronan Remandaban, co-founder and chief executive officer of Liquideed, discussed how the need for “Last Mile” distribution centers had transformed the sector, especially in dense urban areas, and how developers and brokers should navigate this new landscape. But there were no easy answers.

“This sector is evolving on Internet time, not regular time,” said Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director, national industrial practice, Newmark Knight Frank. And the creation of a whole new world of distribution centers, for which there is no existing model, means users will experiment. Essentially, they are throwing everything against the wall, and seeing what sticks.