With the industrial real estate market in Grand Rapids nearing critical mass — where demand is strong enough to fill the entire supply of available space — a new challenge has emerged for developers. How do they create enough new, competitive product to keep up with continued market momentum? For the first time in a decade, total inventory in the industrial market must grow. The solution will likely come in the form of new construction and creative repositioning of functionally obsolete facilities. During the Great Recession and slow recovery, many companies consolidated operations. Buildings that had become vacant were repurposed, substantially modified or eliminated altogether. Now, we are beginning to see a trend of new construction. Both speculative and build-to-suit construction has become the logical solution to the lack of inventory. Noteworthy Projects An investment group led by a local building materials supplier, and marketed by the industrial team at Colliers, is developing a 45,000-square-foot light manufacturing speculative building, located at 3838 Soundtech Court in Kentwood, a southern suburb of Grand Rapids. Delivery is expected by June 1. On the city’s southeast side near Gerald R. Ford International Airport, a new industrial building is under construction at 5300 Broadmoor Ave. …
