Commercial Real Estate Investment analyst: Business Changes Mean Big Things in Store for Florida developers

Orlando, Fla. --- Emerging trends in the way companies deliver their products to consumers and end-users will create major opportunities for Florida developers — and major development initiatives as well. That’s the word from George Livingston, one of the area’s most experienced commercial property investors. “Fortune Magazine predicts same-day service for e-commerce orders will become the standard before then end of this year,” said Livingston, chairman of NAI Realvest in Orlando. “That may be a little aggressive, but not by much. Retailers are determined to reduce the time between placement of an order and delivery to the customer’s door,” Livingston said. “One-hour service is now available from e-Bay in Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco and e-Bay is likely to expand that to 25 cities this year,” Livingston said. “Walmart has started its own self-delivery operations, and other retailers are gearing up to follow suit,” he added. The ongoing battle between online sales and sticks-and-bricks stores has generated several trends but Livingston said they all point to one goal: “online retailers provide greater convenience. As they close the gap on instant gratification, they are significantly increasing their shares of consumer spending,” Livingston said. The key, Livingston added, is to find the quickest way to deliver products to the consumer, and that’s where commercial properties come into play. “Industrial users are already changing from “storage” buildings to “speedy delivery” buildings,” Livingston said. “Retail is becoming much more consumer-based. Global real estate trends are definitely in a growth cycle and regional manufacturing facilities will see a big increase in demand,” he said.