Photo: Prologis

To deal with a growing shortage of space forย building high in demand industrial warehouses in many American cities, Prologis is building new three story 580,000 square foot warehouse just outside of Seattle. The WSJ hasย the story.

Prologis Inc., the worldโ€™s biggest warehouse owner, is starting construction next year on a three-floor 580,000-square-foot warehouse just outside downtown Seattle that is scheduled to be completed in 2018, the company told The Wall Street Journal. The building will look like two warehouses stacked on top of each other, with a truck ramp to loading docks on the second level and a third floor, accessible via freight elevators, for lighter-scale warehouse operations.

It will be the first building of its kind in the U.S., though multistory warehouses are already common in countries like Japan and Singapore [Ed. note: see video below], as well as elsewhere in Asia and Europe, where vacant land is harder to find.

ย In the U.S., plenty of open space is available in rural areas and suburbs. But as e-commerce sales grow, many retailers are bringing warehouse operations closer to their customers, who increasingly demand speedy delivery. Available warehouse space has hit record lows in many urban markets in the U.S., driving up the value of industrial land and pushing rental rates to new heights.

โ€œMajor urban areas are running out of industrial space,โ€ said Hamid Moghadam, chief executive of Prologis. โ€œThe only way the logistics sector can compete is with this more dense format.โ€

ProLogis Japan Building Tours – ProLogis Parc Narita III and ProLogis Parc Osaka II