by Mary Lamie
Executive Director of the St. Louis Regional Freightway
This article was published in the St. Louis Business Journal on August 26, 2016
The e-commerce business is growing at an incredible pace, and at St. Louis Regional Freightway, we are seeing this rapid growth produce a surge of expansion opportunities in the bi-state region for manufacturing and logistics industries. The U.S. Commerce Department reports e-commerce sales have more than doubled from nearly $169 billion in 2010 to $341 billion in 2015. From all indications, the future looks even brighter for e-commerce sales, thanks to increased mobile device usage and Internet connectivity.
This seismic consumer purchasing trend is creating a record demand for industrial real estate nationwide, and our region is a prime location for distribution centers. Locally, nearly 7 million square feet of new industrial real estate will come on line this year, according Jones Lang LaSalle. In June, Amazon announced it will build two fulfillment centers in Edwardsville, Illinois that will have a combined square footage of 1.5 million square feet. This new e-commerce model of placing smaller warehouses closer to population centers to reduce shipping times and costs is a win-win for our region.
At St. Louis Regional Freightway, we have streamlined the site selection process for big shippers and have become the go-to source for companies looking to expand their manufacturing and logistics operations. In fact, we have identified the top 11 large scale industrial sites for manufacturing and logistic expansion and growth.
Click here to see the list, and to learn more on how to make our freight district and the bi-state region more competitive.