Kossar: “We put in a lot of time to make the conference different because the industrial markets are constantly growing and changing, and we want the conference to reflect what’s happening today and what’s to come.” Kossar: “We put in a lot of time to make the conference different because the industrial markets are constantly growing and changing, and we want the conference to reflect what’s happening today and what’s to come.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ— Industry luminary Ming Mei, CEO of Global Logistics Properties (GLP) will share an insider’s look at the inner workings of GLP, the leading provider of modern logistics facilities in China, Japan, Brazil and the United States, says Robert Kossar, executive managing director of JLL and planning committee chair for NAIOP’s I.CON: Trends and Forecasts conference, this June 9 and 10 in Jersey City, NJ, Kossar tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke exclusively with Kossar about what’s fresh at the conference this year and what attendees will hear from megadeal mastermind Mei at the keynote fireside chat.

GlobeSt.com: What has been the most interesting part of being I.CON: Trends and Forecasts’ planning committee chair?

Kossar: Our goal for this conference was to do something different than what’s been done before; to grab people’s attention and give them a reason to take time out of their busy schedules to attend. In our business, the biggest story is the megadeals – the portfolio deals and the institutionalization of industrial real estate. A lot of these gigantic entities were swallowed, and there were two instigators: GLP and Prologis. People have heard from Hamid [Moghadam of Prologis], but attendees at I.CON: Trends and Forecasts will get a chance to hear exclusively from Ming Mei, the CEO of GLP. He’s based in Asia, so it’s unusual to get him in front of an audience to talk about GLP’s vision. It’s a really staggering, unbelievable story of sovereign wealth. GLP is aggregating all over the world and is the second-largest owner of industrial real estate in the world behind Prologis. In the past, when we looked at who were the long-term buyers of industrial real estate, it was primarily REITs, but this company is not selling any time soon. It will be great to have Ming Mei, our keynote speaker, open up this conference.

GlobeSt.com: What will be the most important takeaways of this conference for attendees?

Kossar: Understanding what’s happened in the recent past, the portfolio acquisitions, and what’s going to happen moving forward with largely entity-level acquisitions, the singles and doubles vs. portfolios. Industrial real estate is a strong forward-looking indicator of the economy. When things start to go bad, the last thing companies want to do is let people go, so they reduce their inventories and reduce production. They do all these things before they start layoffs, so industrial is really a good indicator of our place in the market. The opposite is also true – companies don’t start hiring people until they have to; they start with production, then inventory, then people. Right now is the strongest industrial market I’ve experienced. I don’t see anything to indicate that we’re slowing down. If you juxtapose that with how long upcycles have been in the past, we’re already exceeding it. There is nothing fundamental that makes me think we’re in a peak period. June’s a few months away, but people will take this as a positive.

GlobeSt.com: Tell me about the “Shark Tank” session and what makes it unique.  What will attendees get out of it that they haven’t in the past?

Kossar: The Shark Tank panel, which is structured as developers pitching real-world projects to the “sharks,” in the form of tenants and investors, began six years ago and is extremely popular. This year, we’re taking it to the next level: East and West Coast developers will pitch real spec-development projects they have in their pipeline, and not only are the investors – Prudential and Clarion – going to opine on whether they would invest, but the tenants and users will opine on whether the building works for them based on its physical attributes. There will be both user and investor feedback.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this conference?

Kossar: We put in a lot of time to make the conference different because the industrial markets are constantly growing and changing, and we want the conference to reflect what’s happening today and what’s to come. There are some excellent tours taking place at the beginning of the conference: a UPS sorting facility, a port tour, and a market tour of the Lehigh Valley, a submarket that has exploded over the last few years. This I.CON will also explore investment into goods movement, including last mile delivery; exciting technologies like drones, 3-D printing, autonomous vehicles and how they will shape the future of CRE; re-shoring, near-shoring, cross-border movements; the capital investment climate and more. Our attendees can also expect plentiful opportunities for networking and deal making. This is an exciting time for the market and the I.CON: Trends and Forecasts conference is more critical than ever for companies looking to stay ahead of the curve.