ATLANTA—Atlanta's delivery of new industrial space in 2017 reached its highest level on record in 2017 with more than 17.6 million square feet completed. That's according to fourth quarter statistics released by Cushman & Wakefield.

“As companies follow rooftops and population growth, Atlanta remains the best logistics hub in the Southeast for companies to locate and expand their reach to those customers,” Lisa Pittman, director and Lead of Cushman & Wakefield's Industrial Tenant Representation Practice, tells GlobeSt.com. “With the Port of Savannah just four hours from the city of Atlanta and the world's busiest airport, Atlanta offers access to millions of customers. As e-commerce continues growing, so do expectations on fast delivery times. Atlanta's a key market for companies to locate to reach customers quickly.”

Atlanta's industrial market added 14.2 million square feet of speculative construction completions in 2017, and speculative warehouse and distribution construction completions exceeded 1 million square feet for the 11th consecutive quarter with 2.1 million square feet in the fourth quarter of 2017. Build-to-suit completions totaled 3.5 million square feet, or 19.6% of 2017 construction completions, up from 12.4 percent of completions in 2016.