Can Better Design Help the Warehouse Market?

A recent Wall Street Journal real estate market article says that it can't hurt.

According to the article, now warehouse developers are thinking outside the plain brown, no-frills box.

Minimal attention had been paid to aesthetics on warehouses and industrial parks often located off the beaten path. But now creeping into some new warehouse projects are elements of high-end design -- glass curtain walls, precast concrete, skylights, ornamental awnings, elaborate canopies and tasteful earth tones.

Developers are hiring renowned, high-profile architects, such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Industrial buildings are winning prizes for design. Earlier this year, the American Institute of Architects recognized a warehouse used to store airport snow removal equipment in Oklahoma City with an honor award for architecture. And there's even a new coffee-table book on cool-looking warehouses.

Reasons for the move toward fancier warehouses vary -- from tenant companies wanting buildings that reflect their brands or their image, to the shaking up of corporate architecture that was ushered in by dot-com companies in the 1990s, to restrictive zoning boards. Some of the trend also is related to the sluggish economy: To attract and retain tenants, owner-developers are willing to go the extra mile, letting tenants call the shots and dictate what they want and need their buildings to be.