2026 Industrial Construction Report: Selective Recovery on Demand-Backed Projects
Key Takeaways
- Nationwide industrial space under construction ticked up 2.3% year-over-year (Y-o-Y) with pipelines rebounding across major Midwestern and Southern markets.
- Nine of the 10 markets with the largest pipelines in early 2026 had more industrial space underway than they did at the same time in 2025.
- Dallas Fort-Worth claimed the top spot for industrial development with 28.8 million square feet of space under construction.
- Samsung’s 3.6-million-square-foot semiconductor facility is on track to become 2026’s largest industrial project, with an opening expected later this year.
- Seven of the largest industrial projects scheduled for completion this year are Amazon logistics facilities, marking a return for the retail giant.
- Of the 10 largest industrial completions of 2025, five were manufacturing facilities, whereas, in 2024, all 10 were logistics facilities.
A disciplined approach is perhaps the best way to describe industrial development so far in 2026. Looking back 12 months, the year might have been earmarked for a cleaner break from uncertainty, and while conditions have arguably improved, a meaningful level of hesitancy remains due to policy uncertainty, geopolitical risks and infrastructure constraints.
However, build-to-suit is growing as a share of the industrial pipeline by removing risk for developers while benefiting users best placed to leverage it — those with the runway to plan for the long term and the scale to make large commitments to get facilities built precisely to their specifications. Meanwhile, smaller operators still have options as vacancies on existing stock remain elevated enough to keep the market competitive for those who are not yet ready to commit. Read on to discover which markets are leading industrial development in 2026, as well as details about the largest projects set for completion this year.
National Industrial Pipeline Edges Up 2.3% Y-o-Y to 354.1 MSF; Dallas & Houston Lead Development Nationwide
Across all U.S. industrial markets, around 354.1 million square feet of industrial space is currently under construction, representing 1.7% of the total national stock. While development activity remains below the levels seen in 2023 and early 2024, the current pipeline nevertheless marks an increase on the 346.2 million square feet that was underway one year ago. Notably, the pipeline’s share of total national stock holds at 1.7% (unchanged from a year ago) with development growing in step with the market, rather than ahead of it.
Now, given the radical expansion and then dramatic slowdown of the trajectory of recent years, 2026 finds developers taking a more measured approach, although it varies considerably by sector. For instance, the warehouse and logistics industry has grown less speculative and manufacturing spending has pulled back, albeit unevenly across markets. Yet, data centers are now claiming a sizeable chunk of the industrial development pipeline in some of the largest markets in the country.
#1. Dallas–Fort Worth
DFW has reclaimed the top position in industrial development with 28.8 million square feet currently under construction to give the metro the largest pipeline in the country once again. It’s a distinction the market held just two years ago, when the pipeline climbed to 33.6 million square feet before slipping to 22.6 million the following year. Since then, activity has picked up with 6.2 million square feet added in the last year for a 27% Y-o-Y increase.
Granted, that rebound is occurring against a vacancy rate of 11.4%, which is on the higher side compared to most other major U.S. markets. As such, developers are counting on DFW’s scale and infrastructure to absorb new space. Here, logistics facilities are the largest projects underway in the Metroplex, but manufacturing and data centers are also driving a growing share of new starts. In fact, data centers alone account for roughly 20 projects (or about 11% of the pipeline) and are central to Texas’ push to overtake northern Virginia as the national leader in data center power capacity — a transition that could come within the next few years.
#2. Houston
Houston made one of the largest moves up the rankings in the last year after jumping from fourth to second with 21.5 million square feet now under construction — a 63% increase — and an inventory expansion of 3%. The sharp climb follows two years of incremental growth (itself a recovery from a steep drop between 2023 and 2024) with the pipeline moving from 12.5 million square feet in 2024 to 13.2 million in 2025 before accelerating to its current level.
Here, nearly all of that construction is related to logistics and warehousing. As the nation’s busiest port for foreign waterborne tonnage, the Port of Houston saw volume grow again last year with tonnage up 5%. Plus, ongoing channel-widening, new terminals and land-side infrastructure improvements point to further capacity gains ahead.
What’s more, Houston’s vacancy rate currently sits at 6.3% — down 20 basis points from a year ago and one of only four major markets nationwide where industrial vacancy actually fell year-over-year. Thus, how it responds to the next wave of deliveries will be a real test.
#3. Phoenix
With just more than 18 million square feet of industrial space underway, Phoenix is a market in normalization mode. Just two years ago, the metro led the nation with a staggering 42.5 million square feet under construction. Of course, that record-breaking pace was never sustainable, but the market isn’t cooling off: The pipeline actually ticked up by 400,000 square feet during the last year. This represents a 4% inventory expansion, which is significant for a market that’s already grown as rapidly as Phoenix has this decade.
In this case, data centers have become a primary engine of growth and now account for roughly 2.9 million square feet or 16% of the total pipeline. In particular, Meta’s 2.5-million-square-foot campus in Mesa, Ariz., currently has 1 million square feet under active construction, while Edgecore continues its expansion with 800,000 square feet of its own planned 3.1-million-square-foot footprint also underway nearby. The market’s largest single project, though, is the LG Energy Solution battery plant in Queen Creek, Ariz. The plant spans 1.3 million square feet and represents a $5.5 billion investment, which is the largest single commitment to a standalone battery facility in the country.
#4. Chicago
After a sharp dip to 5.8 million square feet in 2025, Chicago’s industrial pipeline rebounded strongly with 13.6 million square feet now under construction. That puts it just ahead of its 2024 level by around 400,000 square feet. Furthermore, the increase of 7.8 million square feet in the last year is the second-largest gain in sheer volume among the top 20 pipeline markets (behind only Dallas), and moves Chicago back into the top tier after ranking 17th last year.
However, at 12.5%, Chicago currently carries the highest vacancy rate among the top 20 markets in the pipeline ranking, although the pressure is unevenly distributed. For example, infill areas — like the West Loop and Fulton Market — remain exceptionally tight due to relentless demand for last-mile e-commerce. In contrast, the southern suburbs — specifically the I-55 and I-57 corridors — face higher vacancies as pandemic-era sublease space returns to the market.
Despite these headwinds, developers are still placing big bets on Chicagoland’s southern suburbs. Namely, Venture One recently broke ground on a 1.2-million-square-foot build-to-suit for John Deere along the I-55 corridor. Similarly, in University Park, Ill., Hillwood and Clarius Partners are moving forward with a 970,000-square-foot speculative facility in a wager on Chicago’s combination of rail access, intermodal infrastructure and same-day delivery to reach into the region’s densest population centers.
#5. Washington, D.C.
Having more than doubled its pipeline during the last year, Washington, D.C. has grown from 6.2 million to 13.2 million square feet under construction — a jump that moves the market from 15th to fifth. Only Houston and Chicago added more pipeline volume in the last year. And, in a tie with Austin, Texas, at 7%, the capital’s projected inventory expansion is the highest among the top 20 pipeline markets.
Northern Virginia has long been home to Data Center Alley, and its dominance shows up clearly in the pipeline: 6.1 million of the metro’s 13.2 million square feet under construction is data center space, which equates to roughly 46% of all space underway. But, the traditional core around Ashburn, Va., is running into limits: Tighter regulations driven by residential concerns and a shortage of available land have pushed development outward. The result is more than 30 data centers now under construction across a 70-mile stretch from Leesburg, Va., to Fredericksburg, Va., with the bulk of new space arriving in Prince William County and Manassas, Va. This area of Virginia also remains the world’s largest data center market by operating capacity, but how much further it can grow will depend on whether the grid can keep up because power availability is becoming as binding a constraint as land.
#6. Columbus, Ohio
Columbus added 5.4 million square feet to its industrial pipeline during the last year to bring its total to 12.2 million square feet under construction. But, what makes the market distinctive is that manufacturing and data centers together outnumber warehouse and logistics facilities among current projects. That’s an inversion of the typical pipeline mix outside of Washington D.C., and accounts for more than 9 million square feet — or roughly three-quarters of the total — in Columbus.
Much of that activity is concentrating in and around New Albany, Ohio. On Columbus’ northeast fringe, it has become one of the country’s most significant hyperscale data center clusters. Accordingly, data centers alone account for around 21% of the pipeline in this area.
At the same time, Intel’s Ohio One semiconductor fabrication plant has drawn a wave of digital infrastructure investment to the corridor, most notably Meta’s Prometheus campus — described as the world’s first gigawatt-capable data center — that’s slated to open later this year.
#7. Austin, Texas
Cooling steadily, Austin’s industrial pipeline moved from 18.2 million square feet in 2024 to 12.9 million in 2025 and 10.9 million today. With that, it’s now 2 million square feet below last year and 7.3 million below 2024. Yet, the current pipeline represents roughly 7% of Austin’s total industrial space to tie with Washington, D.C. for the largest percentage of inventory under construction among the markets that made the top 20 pipeline ranking this year.
Interestingly, nearly one-third of the pipeline in Austin is one project — Samsung’s 3.59-million-square-foot semiconductor facility in Taylor, Texas, which is also the country’s largest industrial project under construction expected to be delivered this year. But, unlike most large one-off projects in which completion triggers a sharp drop in pipeline volume, Samsung’s Taylor campus is designed for phased expansion, meaning its delivery (penciled in for Q4) is unlikely to mark the end of the site’s contribution to future pipelines.
#8. Atlanta
Atlanta’s industrial pipeline climbed to 10 million square feet, up from 8.2 million a year ago. Here, data centers account for 2.8 million square feet or around 28% of the total, but square footage undersells their presence: Of the roughly 50 industrial projects currently underway in the metro, about 20 are data centers — a ratio that reflects how data centers are built for power density, rather than raw space. Most of that activity is concentrated on the west side of the metro in Lithia Springs, Ga., as well as further south in Palmetto, Ga., and Fayetteville, Ga., where available land and power infrastructure have turned the suburban fringe into Atlanta’s most active data center corridor.
#9. Denver
Denver has been one of the more consistent industrial development markets in recent years with pipeline volume holding within a relatively narrow band — between 6.8 and 8.1 million square feet in the last two years and sitting at 7.9 million today. That said, with an industrial vacancy rate of 12.2% — the second-highest among the top 20 pipeline markets — the depth of occupier demand to absorb new supply is less certain.
Additionally, that concern, at least regarding upcoming deliveries, is somewhat tempered by the fact that the market’s largest projects are built-to-suit: More than one-third of the current pipeline is a single project — Amazon’s 3.5 million square foot logistics facility in Loveland, Colo., to the north of the metro and the largest Amazon development currently in the national pipeline. Also under construction is Pepsi’s 1.2-million-square-foot manufacturing facility that’s set to become the beverage company’s largest in the country.
#10. New Jersey
A year ago, New Jersey’s industrial space under construction placed it just inside the top 20 largest pipelines nationwide. Now, with 7.5 million square feet underway (up from 5.6 million a year ago), the market breaks into the top 10 most active industrial development markets in the country. One of the more established logistics hubs in the nation with a major port and access to a densely populated region, it’s perhaps no surprise that nine of the 10 largest industrial facilities underway in the metro are warehouse and distribution in nature. Notably, Russo Development is the developer for three of the largest projects underway, including the 1.4-million-square-foot Building A at the Kingsland Meadowlands development in Lyndhurst, N.J. — one of the largest logistics-based projects in the market. The same developer is also building a data center in in South Brunswick, N.J., that’s roughly 300,000 square feet in size — large enough to be the sole non-logistics property among the 10 largest industrial projects in the market.
Amazon Accounts for 7 of 20 Largest Industrial Facilities Completing in 2026
After dominating the annual list of largest industrial facilities slated for delivery from 2020 to 2023, Amazon returns to feature prominently on 2026’s list with six of the top 10 and seven of the top 20 largest industrial projects expected to be completed this year for the retail giant. You might recall that the company halted or delayed dozens of projects in a deliberate pause in new starts between 2022 and 2023 after overexpanding during the e-commerce boom of the pandemic period. Now, with e-commerce making a recovery, the push is to build modern logistics facilities (which are often more feasible to build from scratch), rather than refit older properties.
“The swing back to warehouse/distribution at the top of the list for 2026 completions exceeded initial expectations. With this said, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the delivery timeline for some of these stretched out into 2027.”
– Peter Kolaczynski, Director, Yardi Research
Of the seven Amazon projects on the list, most sit in suburban or exurban locations on the edges of major metros where land is cheaper, highway access is direct and facilities can serve dense population centers without paying core market prices. In particular, three of the four largest industrial completions expected this year — Loveland, Colo., on the Denver-Fort Collins corridor; Sun Prairie, Wis., outside Madison, Wis.; and Eagan, Minn., in the Twin Cities suburbs — all follow that logic, as does Hesperia, Calif., which is firmly within the Inland Empire, Calif., logistics belt.
However, the largest single industrial project expected to be completed this year is a manufacturing facility: Samsung’s semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, (often referred to as the Taylor Fab 1 or T-Project) spans 3.59 million square feet — putting it ahead of any Amazon development on the list. Initially scheduled for completion as far back as 2024, the project broke ground in 2022 and has been delayed repeatedly with chip production now expected by the end of this year. The facility is part of a project that includes future phases and is supported by the CHIPS and Science Act as part of the primary wave of mega-projects that the legislation helped unlock.
Meanwhile, fifth place went to another manufacturing facility: Aditya Birla Group’s aluminum recycling and rolling mill plant outside Mobile, Ala., spans 3.2 million square feet and ranks among the largest industrial investments in the state’s history. The first of its kind in the U.S. in 40 years, the plant is built around a closed-loop model that takes in recycled aluminum and converts it into flat-rolled products for beverage packaging and automotive applications. Initial production capacity is 600 kilotonnes per year.
Otherwise, the remaining three manufacturing projects in the top 20 are all automotive, from the BlueOval project expected to wrap up this summer in Detroit to the expansion work at the Tesla Semi factory in Reno. Manufacturing overall didn’t have the same presence on the list this year as it did last year because starts in the sector have slowed with some cancelled entirely.
Not to be outdone, a data center rounds out the top 10 as the first of two on the list, which might seem low given what’s happening in the sector. However, while data centers are often large, they rarely compete with the largest manufacturing and warehouse facilities on square footage alone because data center capacity is measured in power, not footprints. Meta’s Eagle Mountain campus holds that spot at 10th, with a 2-million-square-foot expansion of a project that first broke ground nearly eight years ago. Meanwhile, the T5 Data Center in Atlanta will see five new data centers join the existing campus there, adding to Atlanta’s growing role as a focal market for the broader buildout of data center space nationally.
The remainder of the top 20 is comprised of logistics and warehouse projects. Several are multi-building campus completions, and five of which are in the Dallas market.
Manufacturing Dominates 2025’s Largest Industrial Completions
Whereas 2026’s largest completions are led by logistics and Amazon, last year’s list skewed heavily toward manufacturing. As a matter of fact, half of the top 10 in 2025 were manufacturing projects. And, per typical development timelines, the timing makes sense given that both the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, meaning that 2025 was the year when the first wave of flagship, policy-backed projects began coming online.
The largest of these was Panasonic’s roughly 4.7-million-square-foot gigafactory in De Soto, Kan., which began production in 2025. (The plant has since delayed its timeline for reaching full capacity amid weaker EV demand and related market conditions.)
Further east, Ford’s BlueOval SK Battery Park in the Louisville, Ky., region had less room to maneuver. Originally planned as a major EV battery hub, it’s now being retooled to produce battery energy-storage systems for utilities and large power users. The transition will displace more than 1,500 workers in the near term, although Ford expects to bring around 2,100 back once the retooled operation comes online. Battery production is targeted for 2027.
Finally, other major manufacturing completions in 2025 included TSMC’s semiconductor plant in Arizona; LG’s Ultium Cells EV battery manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich.; and Wolfspeed’s John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide in North Carolina.
Methodology
All data on markets and individual properties is courtesy of Yardi Research. Data on projected completion dates of individual properties was extracted on February 16, 2026. Market-wide square footages in the pipeline are as of January 2026. The ranking includes industrial properties with a projected completion date in 2026, which may include properties already completed as of the writing of this article. While Yardi Research attempts to ensure data accuracy, final completion and opening dates may differ.
Only industrial properties larger than 25,000 square feet were covered in the report. For mixed-use properties, this includes other commercial real estate types, including office, retail and multifamily space.
In the case of construction projects in the same industrial park, the square footage displayed is the sum of all projects under construction in the same park, regardless of completion date in the same year.