Industrial Buildings Are Looking a Lot More Like Modern Offices

For decades, industrial real estate was treated as commercial property’s workhorse—functional, cheap, and largely ignored. The sector’s reputation as the “poor cousin” of office space was cemented by its utilitarian design: cavernous boxes on the edge of town, prioritizing loading bays and clear heights over comfort or connectivity. But as industrial tenants shift from storage and distribution to high-tech production, those unglamorous boxes are undergoing a quiet transformation. Today’s advanced manufacturing users want spaces that look less like logistics centers and more like modern workplaces—digitally connected, comfortable, and flexible enough to attract specialized talent.

   ...more

RSK: This is a result of luring employees and a shift from heavy industrial to more high-tech