Industrial Advisors Podcast: Travis Hale on Pacific Northwest Industrial Development, Class A Flight to Quality, and Land/Entitlement Challenges

On this episode of the Industrial Advisors podcast, Bill Condon and Matt McGregor interview Travis Hale, partner at Panattoni Development, about Pacific Northwest industrial development. Hale describes a continued flight to "new" Class A product, noting that 2015-era Class A can now be first-gen and may see rent declines while brand-new Class A is pushing rents. He outlines Panattoni's I-5 corridor activity across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, citing roughly 14 million SF across 34 Seattle-office projects, about five new starts this year, and key developments including Fred310 in Frederickson, Des Moines Creek/Seattle Gateway near SeaTac, and Mount Vista in Ridgefield/Vancouver. They discuss market vacancy (about 10% Seattle, 6.8% Portland), big-box demand, tight land supply, multi-year entitlements, improving equity conditions, and the organizational impact of Bart Brynestad's retirement and his "get it leased" philosophy.

0:00 The flight to quality in industrial real estate

2:45 Introducing Travis Hale and Panattoni Development

5:30 Current projects and the big box market outlook

8:15 Understanding vacancy rates and rent growth

11:00 Land competition and the entitlement process

14:30 Pioneering new markets and job distribution

17:45 The state of equity and capital markets

20:15 Regional trends and the legacy of Bart Brynestad