Chinese logistics specialist Black Kite is expanding its footprint in the Yangtze River Delta, embarking on four new warehouse projects totalling 441,275 square metres (more than 4.7 million square feet) in recent weeks, as industry insiders flag continued growth in shed demand in the world’s second largest economy.

Most recently, Black Kite acquired a site in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, where it plans to develop a grade A logistics and industrial facility with a lettable area of 137,275 square metres, the company announced on LinkedIn.

Located on a 167 mu (0.11 square kilometre) site west of Tongye Road in Wuxi Jiangyin, a logistics and industrial hub, the Black Kite Jiangyin Logistics Park is due for completion in the fourth quarter of 2024. The future project is a two-level, ramp-up warehouse with 9 metres of clear height that will target LEED Silver status, according to Black Kite’s website.

Development Spree

The site acquisition follows three other logistics deals the investor, developer and manager of industrial space chalked up in February. In a roundup of its activity for the month, Black Kite said it had launched its latest project in the Chinese capital, a 175,242 square metre trade and logistics park dubbed Black Kite Beijing Pinggu Logistics Park.

Slated for completion in the first quarter of 2025, the facility will consist of a quartet of three-level buildings with direct ramp access to all floors that will serve Beijing and the surrounding regions. The company kicked off the new project in Xiage Town at an event hosted by the government of eastern Beijing’s Pinggu district on 8 February.

In the same month, Black Kite announced the Licheng Logistics Center in the northern Chinese city of Jinan, which will provide 72,000 square metres of grade A warehouse and distribution space upon its scheduled completion in the first quarter of next year. The two-level ramp-up property is being built in the Shandong provincial capital’s Licheng district.

Black Kite’s February roundup also included a 57,000 square metre warehouse in Sicundian Town in the northern city of Tianjin’s Wuqing district. Slated for completion in the second quarter of 2024, the two-level Black Kite Wuqing Center is designed to serve as a logistics hub for Greater Beijing.

Shed Optimism

The flurry of new project announcements brings Black Kite’s total portfolio to seven logistics projects under development, including three other projects in Beijing, Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, and Jiangmen in Guangdong province. Founded by Goodman and CBRE Global Investors alum Richard Brooks, the company has offices in Shanghai and Beijing.

Warehouse demand in China contracted by 40 percent year-over-year to 4.8 million in 2022, as disruption to logistics networks weighed on leasing demand and growth in national parcel delivery plummeted, CBRE reported.

Despite the sobering data, the brokerage anticipates 30 percent growth in warehouse net absorption in China’s major cities to 6.4 million square metres, according to a February report. “Smoother logistics operations and improved consumer confidence will encourage more online consumption,” CBRE notes.

A panel of industry experts told MTD TV in May of last year that they see mainland warehouse demand continuing to rise despite pandemic-related disruptions due to a burgeoning e-commerce sector and a shift from “just in time” manufacturing practices to a “just in case” approach that emphasises resiliency.

Singapore’s Keppel Capital said in January it had partnered with Chinese developer BLOGIS to acquire the first asset for its China logistics property fund, a 70,000 square metre warehouse complex in the Dongxihu district of Wuhan. The fund was launched in early 2021.