2515 Shader marks one of the largest industrial deals of 2016 in Central Florida.

ORLANDO—There's an evolution going on in retail and industrial. Five industry experts emerged on RealShare Central Florida on Wednesday to hash it out.

In a panel titled “E-volution: How eCommerce is Changing Industrial Development,” panelists looked at how e-commerce has morphed industrial activity drastically over the past few years and Central Florida is a prime location to drive consolidation.

Indeed, the industry is being forced to adapt developments with cutting-edge technology, functionality innovations, footprint reductions, and locations that make same-day delivery possible. With such demands redefining distribution, how is the sector changing to keep up?

CBRE vice president David Murphy moderated the discussion. Panelists included: Brendan Dedekind, a vice president at Prologis; Lane Ramsfield, vice president of Real Estate at Port Tampa Bay; Matthew Sullivan, a principal at Cite Partners; and Justin West, a regional manager at Marcus & Millichap.

“We're still in the early stages of online sales,” Dedekind said. “Everything we're seeing is there is no key metric we would dial in on because the e-commerce industry is continuing to evolve.”

Despite the strong demand, Ramsfield said the development market is still disciplined. He's not seeing overbuilding and lenders are still keeping the market in check. “As it relates to the physical buildings, he said, “industry execs are wanting to increase throughput and lower transportation cost.”

Cite's Sullivan said the biggest challenge right now is accommodating e-commerce users that need more space: “I am getting calls needing 500,000 feet. It's fun to experience but how can you forecast that much space. It's tough. But all good stuff.”

The future looks bright for Orlando. Ramsfield noted. Orlando used to be a spoke on the wheel. Now, with over 20 million people in the state, it's a hub.

“In the 1-4 corridor from Lakeland to Orlando we are seeing more details over 100,000 and 200,000 square feet,” he said. “Building these buildings and trying to figure out what these folks need is a challenge. Everybody is trying get the sites large enough to build that big building. There's not a whole lot of sites left in the Central Florida market.”

Want more from RealShare? Check out Orlando Is Booming, But Is Clock Ticking?

ORLANDO—There's an evolution going on in retail and industrial. Five industry experts emerged on RealShare Central Florida on Wednesday to hash it out.

The future looks bright for Orlando. Ramsfield noted. Orlando used to be a spoke on the wheel. Now, with over 20 million people in the state, it's a hub.

Want more from RealShare? Check out Orlando Is Booming, But Is Clock Ticking?

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Five Gurus Sound Off On Central Florida Industrial

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