Canadian Industrial Real Estate Blog

As populations continue to grow outside of the major centres, it seems that the growth of new arrivals within the cities keeps pace. The one similarity is that they all need a place to live, often in new homes and/or condo’s built to accommodate accordingly. The fundamental difference of course, is that development in the suburban areas typically happens on green-field land (land that has never been developed upon in the past) and urban development takes place on land that has had a previous use.  

One of the shining trends that has been occurring on a frequent basis over recent years is the redevelopment of industrial (otherwise known as employment) lands that used to be home for manufacturing uses. As a large part of our collective manufacturing sector continues to move to more economical locales, the vacated properties are being bought by residential developers who take these properties through a rezoning process with an end goal of having them become zoned for residential in the future. Developers are following much of the planned objectives of the local governments within these cities who have  a strong desire and need to provide housing. The generally accepted terminology for this re-zoning trend is Residential Intensification. 

Further trends are developing amongst the industrial sector in a manner that is less about re-zoning and more about the desire for what is now considered a “coveted” zoning designation. The zoning designation is often referred to as M2, which allows for outside storage. As we continue to grow into more of a consumer nation, which is more reliant on services and distribution and less so on manufacturing, we find that corporate uses in the industrial sector are seeking distribution centres.

Naturally, distribution of most given product requires trailers to haul the goods. Often these trailers are stored while they wait to be filled and utilized accordingly. When these trailers sit outside and not up against a shipping door of an industrial building, they are most often designated as being stored, hence the requirement for a specific zoning allowing for this storage. Wise are the 3^rd party logistics providers and corporate supply chain departments that see these trailers as an opportunity to utilize the space within these trailers as a cheap way to store product without paying the rents being demanded by landlords and/or accordingly, the taxes reaped by government(s).