According to a new April industrial report from commercial cafe, automation and artificial intelligence

are not shrinking warehouse demand. They're expanding it. I'm Kathy Fedke, and this is real estate news

for investors. This is Real Estate News with Kathy Fedke. For years, many believed robotics would reduce the need for industrial space,

but the data is showing the opposite.

As retailers race to deliver products faster, automation is actually increasing the amount of space tenants need.

According to Commercial Cafe, modern automated warehouses require flatter floors, higher clear

heights, wider column spacing, and layouts designed for robotics and internal product movement.

That means many older warehouses simply don't work, and retrofitting them would be expensive.

So instead of upgrading old product, many tenants are choosing new construction, and retrofitting them would be expensive. So instead of upgrading old product, many tenants

are choosing new construction, and that's creating a split market. National Industrial

Vacancy now sits at 9%. That's up 80 basis points over the past year, but rents continue to

rise. The national average in-place industrial rent reached 9.03 per square foot in March,

and newly signed leases averaged $10 per square foot.

That's nearly a dollar premium for modern space.

Some markets are moving even faster.

Atlanta led the nation in rent growth up 8% year over year. Tampa

followed at 7%, then Bridgeport at 7%, and Miami also at 7. Investment dollars are following the

same trend. Dallas led the nation in first quarter industrial sales at 1.1 billion. Atlanta came in second at 811 million,

and Chicago followed close behind at $792 million. But here's something many investors may not be

thinking about. Power. According to Yardy research, access to electrical infrastructure is becoming a major site selection factor for industrial tenants using AI and automation.

In some cases, power availability, not location, is determining where deals get done, and this trend is only beginning.

Prologist now projects that by 2035, roughly half of modern logistics space

...