By Henry Graham of Graham & Co. As a reminder to those who may have missed my colleague Sonny Culp’s article from last year, 2021 and 2022 saw the delivery of more than 10 sizable build-to-suits to the Birmingham/Central Alabama region. Such rapid growth in the industrial sector grabbed the attention of larger industrial developers that have generally allowed Birmingham to fly under the radar. Case-in-point, in the years from 2008 through 2016, the greater Birmingham metropolitan area was essentially devoid of any speculative industrial development. Instead, the pipeline of industrial projects was centered around owner-occupied spaces and the occasional build-to-suit related to the automotive sector or light manufacturing. On the tailwinds of the recent build-to-suit frenzy and COVID-fueled supply demands, Birmingham experienced a flurry of speculative activity in 2022 and 2023 as regional and even national developers like Scannell Properties tested the waters alongside Alabama-based industrial developers. Along a half-mile stretch of Daniel Payne Industrial Boulevard that sits just north of the central business district (CBD) and not far from the intersection of I-65 and I-20/59, four Class A spec buildings came up in rapid succession totaling 737,000 square feet. Two of those buildings are now fully leased …
