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“Tenants increasingly demand smart, sustainable facilities with high clear heights, EV charging, solar integration, redundant power, and ample trailer storage —speed alone won’t win deals without ESG alignment and true Class A attributes."
- Carmine Bottigliero, VP of Development, Central Region
RE Journals interviewed Central Region VP of Development about the challenges Chicagoland developers faced in '25 and how his team is turning them into opportunities to serve customers.
Read what Carmine had to say in the Chicagoland Industrial Properties’ feature article, From Scale to Selectivity: Why CenterPoint’s 2026 pipeline favors entitled land and infrastructure-led strategy.
Everyone is talking about rising industrial demand heading into 2026, but that’s not the story developers are living. Their real bottlenecks sit deeper in the system: power access, build-to-suit complexity, lender scrutiny and capital partners that now expect sustainability baked into every inch of design. For most developers, that reality is a drag. For CenterPoint Properties, it has become a competitive advantage.
Chicago’s industrial market is heading into 2026 with an unusual mix of momentum and restraint. Leasing activity has rebounded sharply, hitting 35.9 million square feet through Q3 according to Avison Young’s latest market data, and big-box commitments have returned with force. Yet development has throttled back. Only 12.9 million square feet are under construction across the metro, down 55 percent from the peak two years ago (AY Q3 report, page 2). This tightening pipeline has reshaped not just what gets built, but who is positioned to build it.
CenterPoint spent 2025 doubling down on the fundamentals that many others treated as secondary during the frothier development years. Entitled land, resilient infrastructure and capital discipline shaped its pipeline more than any single macro variable. Rather than chasing the cycle, CenterPoint positioned itself to benefit when the cycle turned. That shift arrived earlier than many expected, and it has reshaped the conversation about what gets built next.
“Timing became everything as speculative development slowed and capital markets tightened,” said Carmine Bottigliero, Vice President of Development at CenterPoint. “Successful projects were those positioned in markets with resilient demand and infrastructure.”
The data supports that recalibration. After years of record deliveries, developers are putting fewer chips on the table. Mid-range bulk construction between 500,000 and 749,000 square feet has disappeared entirely, according to the Avison Young report, while large-scale projects that do move ahead are either highly specialized or build-to-suit. The result is a market where users are active but choices are limited. And while brokers have spent much of 2025 talking about decision-making delays, the development community has been adapting to a tighter landscape.
That landscape plays directly to CenterPoint’s strengths. The Intermodal Center at Joliet and Elwood, its flagship, 6,500-acre logistics ecosystem, sits at the confluence of Class I rail, interstate access and labor density. Large format sites with direct intermodal connectivity are scarce and many competitors are grappling with rising utility requirements and entitlement headwinds. The infrastructure advantage that the firm secured years ago is becoming harder for the rest of the market to replicate.
“Land strategy shifted toward securing strategic parcels early, especially those that are entitled and in power-constrained regions, while maintaining flexibility in design,” Bottigliero said.
Developers across the market felt those constraints in 2025. Even though debt availability improved late in the year, lenders were more selective and capital partners demanded tighter alignment on ESG, sustainability credentials and municipal coordination. Those requirements slowed speculative projects, but gave a lift to developers with established entitlements and relationships. The gap between “shovel-ready” and “shovel-possible” has not been this wide in years.
That gap is shaping occupier behavior too. Build-to-suit demand rose across Chicago as tenants sought speed, customization and access to labor, even as they wrestled with rising operating costs. The Avison Young report shows big-box leasing over 750,000 square feet is one of the few sectors accelerating and it has done so in a submarket ecosystem where new supply has thinned out.
“Build-to-suit inquiries have surged, signaling occupiers’ desire for speed and customization,” Bottigliero said.
For CenterPoint Investment, Development, and Asset Management inquiries in the Central Region, please contact:
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