'The Music Stopped' This Year For D.C., Baltimore Industrial Market

Longtime D.C.-area developer Peterson Cos. expanded into the industrial sector five years ago just before the market's pandemic-era boom. Its timing was impeccable: it struck deals to develop build-to-suit warehouses in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for Amazon and O'Reilly Auto Parts. “We felt good about it, so we built a spec building,” Peterson President of Development Taylor Chess said at Bisnow's Mid-Atlantic Industrial Summit last month.  The 560K SF spec development delivered in January 2023 at the same Northern Virginia Gateway park as the prior two buildings, but it hasn't found a taker. Chess said Peterson is “still trying to lease it.”  “The market's a little bit soft,” he said....