Greensboro Industrial Real Estate: Regional Distribution and Advanced Manufacturing

By Sam Laird

Greensboro industrial real estate benefits from the city's position at the intersection of I-40 and I-85 in the heart of North Carolina's Piedmont Triad, roughly midway between Atlanta and Washington, DC. This location makes it one of the Southeast's most strategically positioned warehouse markets. Greensboro is both a regional distribution hub for the Carolinas and Virginia and a growing center for advanced manufacturing, driven by a strong labor pool, competitive wages and a deep manufacturing heritage that stretches from textiles and furniture to aerospace and automotive technology. Britten Mathews serves as senior vice president and market officer for Link Logistics in Greensboro, where she oversees warehouse and industrial real estate properties across the Piedmont Triad. In this Q&A, Britten discusses what drives demand for Greensboro warehouse space, which trends are reshaping industrial real estate in the region and why it’s an increasingly compelling place for companies seeking industrial real estate for lease.

What are the main drivers of industrial demand in Greensboro?

Britten: Greensboro industrial space serves two distinct demand profiles. The first is regional distribution. Positioned at the intersection of I-40 and I-85—midway between Atlanta and the DC corridor—Greensboro is a natural staging point for companies distributing throughout the Carolinas and into Virginia. Businesses including Walmart, Publix, Lidl and Ecolab have established operations here because Greensboro lets them efficiently serve a large swath of Mid-Atlantic and Southeast rooftops without having to reach all the way to Atlanta or DC. 

The second driver is manufacturing. The Greensboro area has a deep industrial heritage—textiles, furniture, tobacco. It still has a skilled labor base today, as well as competitive wages relative to Raleigh and Charlotte. That foundation has transitioned into advanced manufacturing, and the region is now attracting significant investment. HondaJet is headquartered in Greensboro. Toyota has invested nearly $14 billion in a battery manufacturing facility in nearby Liberty—the company's first battery plant outside Japan. These anchors are drawing suppliers and supporting businesses into the broader Triad region. 

How do Greensboro's industrial submarkets break down?

Britten: The airport submarket is the core of the Greensboro industrial real estate market. It’s the most active and most in-demand location. It offers easy access to I-40 and I-85, proximity to the Greensboro airport, and a central position that allows tenants to reach Winston-Salem, Mocksville and surrounding areas efficiently. 

Link Logistics is the largest owner in Greensboro’s airport submarket, which is where you find the densest concentration of distribution users and some manufacturing as well. 

Because so much of the airport submarket has been built out, development has increasingly moved into East Greensboro and the surrounding counties. That's where larger-format buildings are being developed—the market has historically been oriented around 50,000- to 80,000-square-foot buildings, but the East Greensboro corridor is now seeing 200,000- and 300,000-square-foot buildings come online. The airport submarket remains the infill hub for distribution users serving the Triad, while the outer areas are absorbing the demand for larger bulk product.

One distinctive feature of Greensboro industrial real estate is the influence of the High Point Market, which happens twice a year and is one of the world’s largest trade shows for home furnishings. That creates a consistent demand for showroom-adjacent industrial space—tile companies, furnishings suppliers and other vendors who want to be present in the Triad during market season and maintain operational space nearby year-round.

What trends are shaping industrial tenant requirements in Greensboro right now?

Britten: Power is the dominant trend. Greensboro has historically been a manufacturing market, so power infrastructure has always been part of the equation here—but demand has accelerated significantly in the past six to nine months. Tenants are consistently asking for 3,000 amps or more as a baseline requirement, with some advanced manufacturing users needing the ability to scale significantly higher. Sourcing that level of power from the grid can take 10 to 12 months in some cases, so buildings with existing power capacity—or the infrastructure to upgrade efficiently—have a meaningful advantage. Any building that can get a tenant started at 2,000 amps while upgrading to 3,000 or 3,500 is in a strong competitive position.

Trailer storage is also consistently in demand because it’s so beneficial for operating efficiency. So having spots for, say, 50 trailers can be a practical advantage in a market where trailer parking availability can be a real leasing differentiator. 

Another emerging topic is warehouse automation and clear heights. As new development comes online across the Carolinas, higher clear heights are being built proactively with future automation requirements in mind. It's early-stage in Greensboro, but brokers and tenants are increasingly taking this into account.

How does Link Logistics support companies looking for warehouse space in Greensboro?

Britten: Greensboro is one of our largest markets in the Carolinas. We are concentrated in the airport submarket—the most desirable and highest-demand submarket in the market—and our portfolio spans buildings from approximately 10,000 to 250,000 square feet, giving us the range to work with customers at different stages of growth. We've recently helped multiple customers grow within our portfolio, which is something our scale makes possible in a way that most other landlords in the market can't match.

What makes our Greensboro presence particularly distinctive is our on-the-ground Link Logistics team. We have an office in Greensboro with dedicated property managers and a construction manager who are embedded in the market and can be on-site within minutes. That level of local responsiveness matters when a customer has an operational issue or a deal needs to move quickly, because it's not something you can replicate remotely.

Looking ahead, why should businesses consider Greensboro for their warehouse and industrial operations?

Britten: Greensboro is establishing itself as an aviation and advanced manufacturing hub, and that trajectory is only accelerating. HondaJet's presence has been a long-standing anchor; the Toyota battery manufacturing facility in nearby Liberty signals that the Triad's labor and infrastructure advantages are drawing major institutional investment. Those anchors generate supplier and partner demand—companies that need to be near these operations will look at Greensboro as a natural home.

As power becomes a scarce and contested resource across industrial real estate markets nationally, Greensboro's existing manufacturing infrastructure gives it a relative advantage. Businesses that need reliable, high-capacity power—and don't want to wait 12 months to get it—are actively seeking out markets where that infrastructure already exists.

For distribution users, Greensboro’s fundamentals remain compelling: a mid-Atlantic location between Atlanta and DC, strong highway access and competitive rents relative to Charlotte and Raleigh. For manufacturing users, the labor base, the wages and the growing ecosystem of advanced manufacturing anchors make Greensboro a market worth a serious look.

Explore available warehouse and distribution space in Greensboro to learn more about industrial real estate opportunities in North Carolina and the Piedmont Triad.