Dallas-Fort Worth Industrial Real Estate: Strategic Distribution Hub and Infrastructure Investment
Rebel Blackwell serves as senior vice president and market officer for Link Logistics in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he oversees warehouse and industrial properties across one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas. With deep knowledge of the DFW industrial market, Rebel helps businesses capitalize on the region's central U.S. location, business-friendly climate and exceptional transportation infrastructure. Link Logistics’ Dallas-Fort Worth portfolio spans more than 30 million square feet of diverse warehouse space, from 5,000-square-foot facilities to million-square-foot distribution centers across multiple submarkets. In this Q&A, Rebel discusses DFW warehouse space for lease—demand drivers, major infrastructure investments underway and why current market conditions create opportunity for businesses seeking space.
What drives demand for industrial real estate in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Rebel: There are several fundamental factors that have been building over the years: a rapidly growing population, job growth, large infrastructure investment, power availability, and a business-friendly political climate that actively works to make conducting business simpler. DFW is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country and one of the fastest-growing—between summer 2023 and summer 2024, for example, nearly 178,000 people moved to DFW, the third-highest total in the nation.
Location is critical from a distribution standpoint. Dallas sits in the geographic center of the southern United States. I-35 runs from manufacturing centers in Mexico all the way through the central U.S. into Canada. Major highways connect the East Coast through Dallas to Los Angeles, and you can get to most of the continental U.S. within two days by truck. You can reach most of the U.S. efficiently by rail, and all major U.S. markets are within about a four-hour flight. We have two major cargo airports. DFW International Airport is the third-busiest airport in the world for passenger traffic and one of the largest cargo airports in the U.S. We have two intermodals served by three Class I railroads.
What's interesting is that Dallas works for three distinct distribution models. First, local demand—8.4 million people in the DFW area create significant need for products and services, supporting local and last-mile distribution. Second, super-regional distribution—there are almost 30 million people within 250 miles, including Austin, Houston and San Antonio, so companies can distribute from Dallas throughout Texas and the broader region. Third, national distribution—for all the infrastructure and location reasons I mentioned, Dallas is ideal for serving the entire country. Not many markets can effectively serve all three levels of distribution like that.
What emerging trends should businesses know about in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Rebel: The most significant trend is the massive infrastructure investment happening across the board, which supports transportation, labor access, air freight, everything our customers care about. There are numerous major highway expansion projects underway, either widening lanes, creating new roads or connecting parts of the Metroplex to other major arteries.
This matters for two reasons. Obviously, it improves physical delivery of products. But it also dramatically impacts labor availability. When workers can drive to job sites more easily, you effectively increase your labor pool. That's hugely positive for tenants.
There's also a major Dallas Area Rapid Transit system project that was just completed, connecting DFW Airport to Plano. And DFW Airport itself is undergoing a multi-billion-dollar expansion. Terminal C is being redone and they're creating an entirely new Terminal F.
As population grows, infrastructure can feel strained. But Dallas is doubling down with these major infrastructure investments that will benefit transportation costs, labor access and logistics efficiency. For existing customers and companies choosing to relocate here, these improvements create significant advantages.
How does Link Logistics support companies looking for warehouse space in Dallas-Fort Worth?
Rebel: We're the second-largest industrial owner in the Metroplex, with more than 30 million square feet of warehouse space. We have significant diversity in our portfolio—essentially all types of industrial real estate, with spaces ranging from 5,000 square feet to a million square feet across multiple submarkets. We can move our customers around within our portfolio as their needs evolve, and we also have a local development team that can identify land sites and build custom space when needed.
But even if we don't have the perfect space available at that moment, we can still be a resource. Our size and scale give us access to market information and opportunities that aren't always publicly available. We connect tenants to brokers and the right service providers for specific areas, and we share market intelligence.
We can be advisors and partners. We share what we know about labor demographics, transportation infrastructure and market dynamics because we hear directly from tenants why they're choosing Dallas. That intelligence benefits customers and their representatives when they're making location decisions.
What's the current state of the Dallas-Fort Worth industrial market?
Rebel: Due to all the positive tailwinds for industrial real estate demand in DFW, developers really ramped up construction starts in 2022 and 2023, and we have delivered over 100 million square feet to the market over the past several years. So, we are at a moment in time where there is more availability today, and the market is more competitive while we work to absorb some of the available space.
Looking ahead, what does this mean for businesses considering Dallas?
Rebel: Now is an excellent time to secure space before options tighten. The timing is ideal to lock in leasing opportunities because so many developers built simultaneously. Businesses have better optionality to be selective about submarkets, clear heights and specific building features.
That window will close as space gets absorbed, optionality decreases, and then market dynamics shift. For the short term, I think companies that know what their real estate needs are will benefit from being first movers while supply is elevated.
The fundamentals remain extremely strong—geographic center of the southern U.S., exceptional infrastructure, fast-growing major metro, business-friendly environment and massive ongoing infrastructure investment. For companies establishing or expanding distribution operations to serve the South, Texas or the entire country, Dallas offers advantages that are hard to match. The current supply situation just makes it an even better time to act.
Explore available warehouse and distribution space in Dallas-Fort Worth to learn more about industrial real estate opportunities in Texas.
