Matt Laraway, Chesapeake Real Estate Group; flanked by (left) Ben O'Neil, Liberty Property Trust and Jeff Bonfoey, FCL Builders

When evaluating the velocity of industrial leasing and sales in the Maryland region, it is necessary to judge the State in terms of different “pockets,” Matt Laraway, Executive Vice President and Partner of Chesapeake Real Estate Group, LLC, told an audience at the recent “The Future of Industrial” seminar sponsored by Bisnow. “State-wide, activity remains flat and has been so over the past year, but certain areas have shown signs of life including projects around the Port of Baltimore, Baltimore County and Harford County. Prince George’s County is in a lull. Over the past five years, our company has developed more than four million square feet of industrial development, with an additional one to two million in the pipeline. Of that total, approximately 400,000 square feet of space has been build-to-suit.”

Ben O’Neil of Liberty Property Trust indicated that e-commerce represented approximately 8% of all retail sales in the United States currently, a figure that is expected to elevate to 20% by the year 2020. “With approximately 9.5 million people residing within the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area, we certainly have the attention of retailers interested in serving this audience.”

Reverse logistics, the sequence involving the return of packages from the consumer to the originating company, is a trend worth watching, the panel agreed. “We don’t see it yet locally, but it’s coming for sure,” stated Reid Townsend of MRP Industrial. “Wal-Mart is working hard to achieve a thirty-second return model at their stores,” added Tom Meehan, Senior Vice President of DCT Industrial Trust.

“Labor is an important consideration in the real estate decision for logistics requirements, and the greater Maryland region has been tested in that regard,” Laraway added. “Kohl’s was among the first to recognize that in 2010. Then Amazon showed up. The area has the correct skilled work base that the industry is looking for.

“The ability to achieve last-mile delivery is among the greatest challenges among retailers,” Laraway said. “While Amazon handles this function quite well, both directlyand through the use of third-parties, I feel we will see more retailers enter this space directly in the near future.”