Industrial occupiers can be broadly classified into several key groups, the most common of which are distribution, e-commerce fulfillment, manufacturing, third-party logistics (3PL), last mile delivery and specialized uses such as cold storage, data centers and recycling facilities.
Each requires diversity within today’s industrial landscape, and here in Northeast Florida these occupiers are attracted to our labor availability and logistics infrastructure.
Historically, Jacksonville’s industrial market was anchored in manufacturing. However, shifts in population growth and retail consumption patterns around the turn of the 21st century accelerated a transition toward distribution uses.
Today, with technology requiring advanced manufacturing and political policy driving a need for onshoring, we are seeing a resurgence of manufacturing demand in Northeast Florida.
About 3.2 million square feet of manufacturing requirements are actively evaluating space in the market, spanning industries from aerospace to data infrastructure.
These users are drawn to the area’s skilled workforce, supported by more than 3,000 annual military separations and expanding advanced manufacturing programs at local institutions.
However, manufacturing users often require highly specialized building features, such as heavy power capacity and reinforced floor slabs, and buildings with these characteristics are in limited supply. As a result, many traditional speculative developers are rethinking standard design models to better accommodate this demand.
Even with the increase of manufacturing requirements, distribution, 3PL, ecommerce fulfillment and last mile occupiers are still the main absorbers of space.
We are seeing about 6.5 million square feet of these occupiers, including online retailers, beverage and pharmaceutical companies. The drivers for these occupiers include proximity to highways, ports and intermodal hubs as well as speed to consumer and labor availability.
Specialized uses are now more common in the industrial sector. Cold storage has gained traction, bolstered by the region’s same day access to 98 million consumers and JaxPort’s strong position in the refrigerated cargo services industry.
Meanwhile, as demand for data centers is accelerating nationally due to the growth of artificial intelligence, Jacksonville has yet to capture large-scale data center requirements, primarily due to limitations in power and water infrastructure needed to support these facilities.
Overall, Jacksonville’s industrial market continues to diversify the landscape.