Grill of the city
Jason J. Thomas
Director of Operations and Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
T&T Construction Management Group
Developers are “adjusting the size of buildings with square footage mixes, landscaped parks and selective speculative products to match the tempered demand and financing realities,” says Thomas. “This favors concrete slope construction with repeatable rectangular footprints and faster delivery models. Affordable land that does not need major improvements is scarce, building materials and costs remain high, and end users no longer want ‘big size’.”
Thomas says smaller flex space warehouses are gaining momentum along with retrofitting existing buildings.
The challenge of right-sizing, Thomas says, is meeting Class A industrial performance standards within much tighter site constraints. “We are being asked to install the same number of docks and truck tracks on smaller parcels, maintain high headroom without increasing costs, and still offer efficient, high-performance designs. Balancing these demands will be one of the key design and construction hurdles in 2026 and beyond,” he says.
