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CHICAGO-First Industrial Realty Trust, based here, is expandingits operations from the US and Canada to Belgium and theNetherlands. The company will focus on industrial developments,redevelopments and acquisitions in Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels andAmsterdam, says company president and chief operating officer MikeBrennan.

First Industrial decided to expand for several reasons, with oneof them being that a "significant number" of their customersoperate in the countries. "Specifically, with the high volumes ofcontainerized freight, we intend to do a lot of development forthose customers," Brennan says. The company also is expandingbecause of increased needs for development due to "supply chainreconfiguration" and "a very high level of corporately ownedfacilities that we would intend to buy and redevelop," he says.