In Market: Atlanta with Jacob Holdeman

ATL is A-OK for Industrial in 2026

Things are heating up for Atlanta’s Industrial real estate market in 2026. Over the past 18 months, uncertainty around tariffs and skittishness about the economy caused an overall pause in construction starts. But lately, we at Scannell Properties have seen an uptick in activity.

It’s not just us noticing this. A Q4 industrial market report from Cushman and Wakefield notes that new deal volume in Atlanta accelerated to 8.8 million square feet in the fourth quarter 2025, a 43.2% increase quarter-over-quarter. This was the fourth highest nationally, behind only Dallas, Chicago, and Inland Empire.

Urgency, Regulation and Migration

With more confidence in the economy, deals are getting off the ground. But because of the relative pause in the past 18 months, clients who are ready to move forward need to move quickly; and that makes site selection more challenging.

Zoning challenges in many of the infill municipalities make it difficult to either find suitable land or prepare the land to make it suitable in an appropriate time frame for our clients. This means considering sites further from the typical industrial submarkets to find one that works with the timeline.

For example, in the last 60 days, we signed a deal for a 26,000sf IOS and maintenance facility in an infill area about 6 miles from I-285, but we had been working for two years to square away the entitlements to allow for this use on the site.

On other end of the spectrum, we also recently signed a deal for an 806,000sf logistics hub. It came to close much quicker due to the site being fully zoned and entitled, which was key factor in site selection due to the expedited timing. It’s 30-35 miles out from the center of Atlanta, but close to major transportation routes.

Savannah’s Impact

We’re also seeing more activity along the I-75 corridor, with Savannah becoming more and more of a critical piece to end-user’s logistics networks. With the increased volume of goods moving through Savannah, there’s a flush of logistics activity moving up and down I-75 and through Atlanta.

Bottom line – We continue to be optimistic about the Atlanta industrial market into 2026, and are moving forward with several projects in full confidence as more clarity in the economy and increased demand from end-users is bringing balance back to the market.