Market segments
- E-commerce / 3PL distribution
- Manufacturing (light + heavy)
- Food + beverage (often cold storage)
- Building materials / construction
- Auto parts + adjacent
- Aerospace + defense
- Pharmaceutical + life science manufacturing
Industrial KPIs.
Industrial properties are manufacturing and light-industrial buildings — distinct from pure distribution warehouses (warehouse subtype) — typically 50K-500K SF with 18-32 ft clear heights, dock-high + grade-level loading, heavy power (480V three-phase, often 4,000+ amps), and higher tenant-improvement intensity for production lines. Performance is measured in SF yield (rent psf), clear height premium (each additional foot of clear height drives modest rent uplift), power capacity, NNN-recovery accuracy, and tenant credit (single-tenant vs multi-tenant). Manufacturing facilities trade at slightly higher cap rates (50-100 bps) than distribution warehouses due to TI specialization risk + tenant concentration. Comparable REITs: PLD (Prologis — largest with global scale), FR (First Industrial), REXR (Rexford Industrial — California infill), EGP (EastGroup Properties — Sun Belt focus), STAG (STAG Industrial — secondary markets), TRNO (Terreno Realty — coastal infill), PLYM (Plymouth Industrial REIT). Ilora.ai ingests industrial rent rolls, lease abstracts (with NNN pass-through analysis + audit-rights clauses), CAM reconciliation, building infrastructure schedules (clear height, dock door count, power capacity, sprinkler density), and tenant credit data, then benchmarks SF yield + clear height premium + NNN accuracy against PLD, FR, REXR, EGP, STAG comparables.
13 definitions · Sector: INDUSTRIAL · Used by Ilora.ai specialist AI agents
- NOI
- Total revenue minus operating expenses (excludes financing and capital costs). The primary measure of property-level profitability.
- Cap Rate
- Net Operating Income divided by current property value. Expresses unleveraged annual yield as a percentage.
- DSCR
- Net Operating Income divided by total annual debt service. Lender-required cushion measure; below 1.0 means NOI cannot cover debt.
- LTV
- Loan amount divided by property value. Lower LTV = lower lender risk.
- OER
- Operating expenses divided by gross revenue. Lower is better, but varies by property type (hotels run higher than triple-net retail).
- GRM
- Property value divided by gross annual rental income. Quick valuation shortcut; less precise than cap rate.
- IRR
- Annualized return on investment accounting for time value of money across the full hold period.
- CoC
- Pre-tax annual cash flow divided by total cash invested. Measures the cash yield, not total return.
- DCF
- Valuation method that projects future cash flows and discounts them to present value at a chosen rate.
- TTM
- A rolling sum of the most recent 12 months. Smooths seasonality for KPI comparisons.
- PUE
- Total facility power divided by IT equipment power. Lower is better — 1.0 is theoretical perfect.
- SF Yield
- NOI per rentable square foot. Comparable measure across industrial buildings of different size.
- Clear Height
- Distance from finished floor to lowest overhead obstruction. Drives storage cube and rent premium.
Net Operating Income
NOI = Revenue − Operating Expenses
Capitalization Rate
Cap Rate = NOI ÷ Property Value
Debt Service Coverage Ratio
DSCR = NOI ÷ Annual Debt Service
Loan-to-Value
LTV = Loan Amount ÷ Property Value
Operating Expense Ratio
OER = Operating Expenses ÷ Gross Revenue
Gross Rent Multiplier
GRM = Property Value ÷ Gross Annual Rent
Internal Rate of Return
Cash-on-Cash Return
CoC = Annual Cash Flow ÷ Total Cash Invested
Discounted Cash Flow
Trailing Twelve Months
Power Usage Effectiveness
PUE = Total Facility Power ÷ IT Equipment Power
Square Foot Yield
Clear Height
Sub-types
Sub-types within Industrial.
- Light Industrial / Flex
- Mixed office + warehouse, 16-22 ft clear, suitable for light manufacturing + showroom.
- Heavy Industrial / Manufacturing
- Production facilities, heavy power, crane bays, often built-to-suit.
- Last-Mile Distribution
- Smaller infill industrial (50-200K SF) serving same-day + next-day e-commerce delivery.
- Bulk Warehouse / Distribution
- Large-format (300K-1M+ SF), 32-40 ft clear, regional distribution centers.
- Truck Terminal / Cross-Dock
- Door-heavy facility for LTL freight transfer, 80-200+ doors.
Amenities & features
7 amenities Ilora.ai tracks for Industrial.
- Dock-High Loading Doors
Truck-height loading doors with bumpers + dock levelers; standard for distribution + light industrial.
- Doors per 10K SF
- Dock door count
- Grade-Level Drive-In Doors
At-grade doors for forklift access; required for manufacturing + flex.
- Drive-in door count
- Clear Height (24-32 ft)
Interior ceiling height from floor to lowest beam; drives rack capacity + rent premium.
- Clear height (ft)
- Rack-stack utilization
- Heavy Power (480V 3-Phase, 2,000-4,000A)
Industrial-grade electrical service for manufacturing equipment.
- Available amps
- Power upgrade CapEx
- ESFR Sprinkler System
Early Suppression Fast Response sprinklers required for high-pile storage; NFPA 13 compliance.
- Sprinkler density (gpm/sf)
- Insurance premium reduction
- Truck Court (130-185 ft depth)
Deep truck court for tractor-trailer maneuvering + parking.
- Truck court depth (ft)
- Trailer parking count
- Crane Bays (Manufacturing)
Overhead crane infrastructure (5-50 ton) for heavy manufacturing tenants.
- Crane capacity (tons)
- Crane-equipped bay SF
Industry reference
How the industrial sector operates.
Operating models
- REIT-owned + leased to operator (PLD, FR, REXR, EGP, STAG)
- Owner-occupier (manufacturer-owned)
- Build-to-suit single-tenant
- Multi-tenant flex/light industrial
- Sale-leaseback (manufacturer + REIT or NNN buyer)
Regulatory frameworks
- BOMA Industrial Floor Measurement Standard
- OSHA workplace safety standards
- EPA stormwater (NPDES) permitting
- DOT trucking access requirements
- NFPA fire code (ESFR sprinkler design)
- Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessment (ASTM E1527)
- Local zoning + heavy industrial setbacks
- Special-use permits (manufacturing)
Industry organizations
- NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association)
- SIOR (Society of Industrial and Office Realtors)
- ULI Industrial Council
- CSCMP (Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals)
- NPMA (National Pest Management Association — for industrial RE management)
- CoreNet Global
Comparable public REITs / operators
- PLD (Prologis — largest global industrial REIT, ~1.2B SF in 19 countries)
- FR (First Industrial — diversified US light + bulk industrial)
- REXR (Rexford Industrial — California infill specialist, ~46M SF)
- EGP (EastGroup Properties — Sun Belt industrial, ~58M SF)
- STAG (STAG Industrial — secondary-market light industrial, ~110M SF)
- TRNO (Terreno Realty — coastal infill, six major US gateway markets)
- PLYM (Plymouth Industrial REIT — Midwest + Southeast secondary markets)
- IIPR (Innovative Industrial Properties — cannabis cultivation specialty industrial)
Documents Ilora.ai ingests
- Industrial rent roll
- Lease abstracts (NNN pass-through, audit rights, expansion options)
- CAM reconciliation (annual)
- Building infrastructure schedule (clear height, doors, power)
- T-12 P&L
- Phase I/II Environmental Site Assessment
- Property condition assessment (PCA)
- Roof + parking lot reserve study
- Tenant credit + financial reports
- Capital plan + TI reserve schedule
Industry tools (we integrate with these)
- Yardi Commercial
- MRI Industrial Management
- Argus Enterprise
- CoStar Industrial
- CompStak (lease comp data)
- Lucernex (lease admin)
- Visual Lease
- JLL Marketsphere
- Nexus Industrial Realty platform
- CBRE Industrial Insights
Frequently asked
Common questions about industrial.
- What is the difference between industrial and warehouse real estate?
- Warehouse refers to distribution-focused buildings: high clear heights (32-40 ft), heavy dock-door count, deep truck courts, designed for storage + throughput. Industrial encompasses warehouses plus manufacturing (production facilities with heavy power + crane bays + specialized infrastructure), light industrial / flex (mixed office + warehouse, 16-22 ft clear), and truck terminals. The industrial sector REITs (PLD, FR, REXR, EGP, STAG) hold predominantly distribution warehouses but include light industrial + manufacturing. Pure manufacturing real estate is often owner-occupied + sale-leaseback rather than REIT-leased.
- How is clear height priced in industrial leases?
- Clear height (interior ceiling from floor to lowest obstruction) drives rack-stack capacity directly: a 32 ft clear building stores ~33% more inventory than a 24 ft clear building of the same footprint. Each foot of clear height premium typically commands 1-3% rent uplift in distribution markets. Modern Class A logistics targets 36-40 ft clear (Prologis Park standard) — anything below 28 ft is functionally obsolete for bulk distribution. Manufacturing tenants prioritize crane clearance + bay column spacing over pure clear height.
- Which REITs own industrial real estate?
- Prologis (PLD) is the largest industrial REIT globally — ~1.2 billion SF across 19 countries, market cap >$100B. US-focused industrial REITs: First Industrial Realty Trust (FR, diversified), Rexford Industrial (REXR, California infill), EastGroup Properties (EGP, Sun Belt), STAG Industrial (STAG, secondary markets), Terreno Realty (TRNO, coastal infill), Plymouth Industrial REIT (PLYM, Midwest/Southeast). Specialty industrial: Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR, cannabis), Americold (COLD, cold storage), Equinix (EQIX) and Digital Realty (DLR) for data centers (separate sub-sector).