The Triangle’s industrial market continues to hold strong fundamentals heading into the new year. A disciplined construction pipeline, low vacancy and high absorption fuel the market’s steady success.
Disciplined construction
Industrial developers have been incredibly disciplined when delivering new product to the Raleigh-Durham market, which has kept vacancy below 7 percent — a significantly stronger rate than peer Sun Belt markets as a result of record levels of development in recent years. With absorption rates in the Triangle averaging nearly 3 million square feet per year in the past five years, this healthy rate of delivery and absorption has propped up the region’s industrial market.
That being said, the Raleigh-Durham market infill land supply has its limitations. Industrial-zoned land is difficult to find and acquisition costs are pushing $500,000 per acre in some submarkets, and rezoning is a lengthy 12-month or longer process. For these projects to be financially viable, developers have been increasing rents year-over-year to an average of over $12 per square foot across all submarkets, up from roughly $6 just five years ago.
Many institutional occupiers have been willing to pay a premium to be in new, Class A space in these infill areas, but other occupiers are becoming more willing to expand their search radius to other submarkets to balance quality of space, availability and affordability.
Non-core submarkets
Johnston County is a submarket that is seeing increased success with its industrial pipeline of 2.7 million square feet delivered over the past three years, while carrying a 3.5 percent vacancy rate and only 700,000 square feet set to deliver over the next 12 months.
Institutional investors from other markets remain skeptical and cautious, but for those that have taken the leap of faith (primarily local or regional developers), there has been great reward.
For example, Edgewater Ventures speculatively built CrossPoint Logistics Center, a 501,120-square-foot, Class A facility on 90 acres in Benson, and recently announced an entire site lease with a total footprint exceeding 1 million square feet by Pentagon-backed startup Vulcan Elements, which has received $1 billion from the federal government and private investors.
Occupiers need solutions
Occupiers are eager for alternative options to core Raleigh-Durham, but they often lack the time or flexibility to bank on proposed projects. As a result, developers offering quick, turn-key solutions are coming out on top.
One recent example is AdVenture Development’s newly announced, 140,000-square-foot, Class A development at Eastfield Business Park in Selma, which already has the capacity to support an array of industrial uses. The project, which will offer water/sewer, heavy power, natural gas and immediate access to I-95 and Class-1 rail service, is planned to break ground in early third-quarter 2026, with an anticipated first-quarter 2027 delivery. The site also has more than 80 acres readily available for additional build-to-suit, lease or sale opportunities.
AdVenture Development’s preparedness to offer a product that meets a range of needs has positioned the project to have already secured more than $120 million in investments from manufacturers VeeTee Foods and Crystal Window & Door Systems.
This project will further support increasing demand from occupiers that value flexibility and affordability while still receiving Class A product, a growing trend in the Raleigh-Durham market.
Reward will benefit the bold
CrossPoint Logistics Center and Eastfield are two key investments that highlight the trends shaping the Raleigh-Durham industrial market. Local and regional industrial developers will continue to benefit from their investment in Johnston County while occupiers will follow their lead as they look beyond the traditional submarkets in search of affordable, high-quality and turnkey space.
In the years to come, out-of-market investors that were once hesitant to invest in “up and coming” submarkets such as Johnston County will take note of the Triangle’s strong market fundamentals and heightened demand for flexible and affordable product, resulting in increased activity.
— By Evan Sassaman, senior vice president, industrial, and Cameron Payne, analyst, Carolinas industrial, market intelligence, Avison Young. This article was originally published in the January 2026 issue of Southeast Real Estate Business.