Large-format industrial leasing is back, with the Southeast U.S. leading the way and playing an outsized role in this resurgence, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s The Southeast Scales Up report.

New research from Cushman & Wakefield shows that demand for warehouses larger than 700,000 square feet surged in the second half of 2025 in the Southeast U.S., signaling a strong rebound in big-box activity after a brief slowdown in 2023 and 2024. The firm’s Southeast Scales Up report shows that the region captures a disproportionate share of large-scale demand. It has led the nation in four of the past five years, driven by 3PL, manufacturing and retailer/wholesaler users. 

“The Southeast has become the most consistently viable region for accommodating large-scale industrial demand,” said Christa DiLalo, Senior Director of Research – East Region, Cushman & Wakefield. “Scalable site availability, logistics connectivity and a competitive cost structure have positioned the region at the center of big-box activity—advantages that are increasingly difficult to replicate elsewhere.”

Across the region, the Southeast recorded 137.2 million square feet of leasing for requirements 700,000 square feet or greater between 2020 and 2025—more than any other U.S. region, with one out of every four big-box leases signed nationally occurring in the Southeast.

For its part, Atlanta has led the Southeast in large-format activity, accounting for 26% of total regional demand since 2020 with nearly 36 million square feet leased across 38 big-box transactions. In 2025 alone, Atlanta dominated large-format user acquisitions, capturing 19% of all national activity in this size range and more than half (51%) of the Southeast’s total volume.

Combined, North and South Carolina contributed nearly one-quarter of all Southeast big-box leasing since 2020, totaling more than 32 million square feet across 29 transactions.

Overall, the big-box trend aligns with the broader national “flight to quality.” Over the past three years, 85.4% of large-format (700,000+ sq. ft.) leases nationally were executed in buildings delivered since 2020. Many occupiers are exiting multiple smaller, outdated buildings and consolidating into modern Class A facilities with advanced automation and higher power capacity.

What’s more, big-box occupiers increasingly have moved away from speculative leasing towards customized build-to-suit (BTS) solutions. The Southeast has become the nation’s leading hub for large-format BTS development, accounting for 46% of all U.S. big-box BTS projects delivered since 2020 or currently underway. Warehouse/distribution product remains the dominant driver, representing 76% of BTS deliveries in the Southeast, though manufacturing continues to gain share. The region has delivered 22.7 msf of large manufacturing BTS projects since 2020, led by major automotive and battery users.

“This shift toward built-to-suit reflects a more disciplined, long-term approach to site selection among the nation’s largest industrial users,” DiLalo added. “Companies are prioritizing automation, operational control, and long-term efficiency over speed-driven speculative leasing.”