Logistics real estate developer Prologis today named a new chief executive, saying the company’s current president, Dan Letter, will succeed CEO and co-founder Hamid Moghadam when he steps down in about a year.
After retiring on January 1, 2026, Moghadam will continue as San Francisco-based Prologis’ executive chairman, providing strategic guidance. According to the company, Moghadam co-founded Prologis’ predecessor, AMB Property Corporation, in 1983. Under his leadership, the company grew from a startup to a global leader, with a successful IPO in 1997 and its merger with ProLogis in 2011.
Letter has been with Prologis since 2004, and before being president served as global head of capital deployment, where he had responsibility for the company’s Investment Committee, deployment pipeline management, and multi-market portfolio acquisitions and dispositions.
Irving F. “Bud” Lyons, lead independent director for Prologis’ Board of Directors, said: “We are deeply grateful for Hamid’s transformative leadership. Hamid’s 40-plus-year tenure—starting as an entrepreneurial co-founder and evolving into the CEO of a major public company—is a rare achievement in today’s corporate world. We are confident that Dan is the right leader to guide Prologis in its next chapter, and this transition underscores the strength and continuity of our leadership team.”
It’s getting a little easier to find warehouse space in the U.S., as the frantic construction pace of recent years declined to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2024, in line with rising vacancies, according to a report from real estate firm Colliers.
Those trends played out as the gap between new building supply and tenants’ demand narrowed during 2024, the firm said in its “U.S. Industrial Market Outlook Report / Q4 2024.” By the numbers, developers delivered 400 million square feet for the year, 34% below the record 607 million square feet completed in 2023. And net absorption, a key measure of demand, declined by 27%, to 168 million square feet.
Consequently, the U.S. industrial vacancy rate rose by 126 basis points, to 6.8%, as construction activity normalized at year-end to pre-pandemic levels of below 300 million square feet. With supply and demand nearing equilibrium in 2025, the vacancy rate is expected to peak at around 7% before starting to fall again.
Thanks to those market conditions, renters of warehouse space should begin to see some relief from the steep rent hikes they’re seen in recent years. According to Colliers, rent growth decelerated in 2024 after nine consecutive quarters of year-over-year increases surpassing 10%. Average warehouse and distribution rents rose by 5% to $10.12/SF triple net, and rents in some markets actually declined following a period of unprecedented growth when increases often exceeded 25% year-over-year. As the market adjusts, rents are projected to stabilize in 2025, rising between 2% and 5%, in line with historical averages.
In 2024, there were 125 new occupancies of 500,000 square feet or more, led by third-party logistics (3PL) providers, followed by manufacturing companies. Demand peaked in the fourth quarter at 53 million square feet, while the first quarter had the lowest activity at 28 million square feet — the lowest quarterly tally since 2012.
In its economic outlook for the future, Colliers said the U.S. economy remains strong by most measures; with low unemployment, consumer spending surpassing expectations, positive GDP growth, and signs of improvement in manufacturing. However businesses still face challenges including persistent inflation, the lowest hiring rate since 2010, and uncertainties surrounding tariffs, migration, and policies introduced by the new Trump Administration.
The third-party logistics provider (3PL) LVK will partner with Instawork, whose app connects hourly professionals with local jobs, with the partners saying the move will answer a structural shortage of warehouse workers.
The deal will work by integrating LVK’s warehouse operations software with Instawork's network of vetted hourly workers, creating a lever to scale up warehouse operations across North America, they said.
That step is necessary because the warehouse industry can’t find enough workers to support its continued expansion to meet surging consumer demand. In fact, Instawork’s State of Warehouse Labor report has found that 43% of businesses had to forego revenue as a result of insufficient staffing.
"By joining forces with LVK, we are taking a significant step towards empowering warehouses with the tools and labor they need to thrive in today's fast-paced environment," Alex Vinden, General Manager of Light Industrial for Instawork, said in a release. "Together, we are poised to deliver unparalleled value to warehouse operators, ensuring they can meet customer demands with precision and agility."
According to Maggie Barnett, CEO of LVK, the new linkage will equip warehouses with both the labor and the technology they need in today's competitive landscape. "LVK is excited to partner with Instawork to bring transformative solutions to the warehouse industry," Barnett said. "Our combined expertise will empower warehouse operators to enhance their operations, reduce costs, and improve service levels, ultimately driving success in a competitive landscape."
Occupiers signed leases for 49 such mega distribution centers last year, up from 43 in 2023. However, the 2023 total had marked the first decline in the number of mega distribution center leases, which grew sharply during the pandemic and peaked at 61 in 2022.
Despite the 2024 increase in mega distribution center leases, the average size of the largest 100 industrial leases fell slightly to 968,000 sq. ft. from 987,000 sq. ft. in 2023.
Another wrinkle in the numbers was the fact that 40 of the largest 100 leases were renewals, up from 30 in 2023. According to CBRE, the increase in renewals reflected economic uncertainty, prompting many major occupiers to take a wait-and-see approach to their leasing strategies.
“The rise in lease renewals underscores a strategic shift in the market,” John Morris, president of Americas Industrial & Logistics at CBRE, said in a release. “Companies are more frequently prioritizing stability and efficiency by extending their current leases in established logistics hubs.”
Broken out into sectors, traditional retailers and wholesalers increased their share of the top 100 leases to 38% from 30%. Conversely, the food & beverage, automotive, and building materials sectors accounted for fewer of this year's top 100 leases than they did in 2023. Notably, building materials suppliers and electric vehicle manufacturers were also significantly less active than in 2023, allowing retailers and wholesalers to claim a larger share.
Activity from third-party logistics operators (3PLs) also dipped slightly, accounting for one fewer lease among the top 100 (28 in total) than it did in 2023. Nevertheless, the 2024 total was well above the 15 leases in 2020 and 18 in 2022, underscoring the increasing reliance of big industrial users on 3PLs to manage their logistics, CBRE said.
By the numbers, global logistics real estate rents declined by 5% last year as market conditions “normalized” after historic growth during the pandemic. After more than a decade overall of consistent growth, the change was driven by rising real estate vacancy rates up in most markets, Prologis said. The three causes for that condition included an influx of new building supply, coupled with positive but subdued demand, and uncertainty about conditions in the economic, financial market, and supply chain sectors.
Together, those factors triggered negative annual rent growth in the U.S. and Europe for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2007-2009, the “Prologis Rent Index Report” said. Still, that dip was smaller than pandemic-driven outperformance, so year-end 2024 market rents were 59% higher in the U.S. and 33% higher in Europe than year-end 2019.
Looking into coming months, Prologis expects moderate recovery in market rents in 2025 and stronger gains in 2026. That eventual recovery in market rents will require constrained supply, high replacement cost rents, and demand for Class A properties, Prologis said. In addition, a stronger demand resurgence—whether prompted by the need to navigate supply chain disruptions or meet the needs of end consumers—should put upward pressure on a broad range of locations and building types.
Cargo theft activity across the United States and Canada reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with 3,625 reported incidents representing a stark 27% increase from 2023, according to an annual analysis from CargoNet.
The estimated average value per theft also rose, reaching $202,364, up from $187,895 in 2023. And the increase was persistent, as each quarter of 2024 surpassed previous records set in 2023.
According to Cargonet, the data suggests an evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape in cargo theft, with criminal enterprises demonstrating tactical adaptability in both their methods and target selection.
For example, notable shifts occurred in targeted commodities during 2024. While 2023 saw frequent theft of engine oils, fluids, solar energy products, and energy drinks, 2024 marked a strategic pivot by criminal enterprises. New targets included raw and finished copper products, consumer electronics (particularly audio equipment and high-end servers), and cryptocurrency mining hardware. The analysis also revealed increased targeting of specific consumable goods, including produce like avocados and nuts, along with personal care products ranging from cosmetics to vitamins and supplements, especially protein powder.
Geographic trends show California and Texas experiencing the most significant increases in theft activity. California reported a 33% rise in incidents, while Texas saw an even more dramatic 39% surge. The five most impacted counties all reported substantial increases, led by Dallas County, Texas, with a 78% spike in reported incidents. Los Angeles County, California, traditionally a high-activity area, saw a 50% increase while neighboring San Bernardino County experienced a 47% rise.