David Greek Speaks with Bisnow on Subdividing Big-Box Warehouses in Philadelphia
The post-pandemic construction boom delivered a wave of speculative big-box warehouses to Philadelphia, a market with little history of that product type. With large full-building tenants increasingly scarce, owners across the city are now subdividing those buildings to accommodate the smaller footprints that define Philadelphia’s long-term tenant base. According to Colliers research cited in the article, all five leases signed in speculative, newly built Philadelphia warehouses between the first quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026 were for demised spaces.
Greek Real Estate Partners Managing Partner David Greek shared his perspective with Bisnow reporter Noah Zucker, drawing on GREP’s experience at 2121 Wheatsheaf Lane, the 287,000-square-foot warehouse the firm completed in North Philadelphia last year. GREP is now marketing the building with a series of potential demising plans, including one that would split it roughly in half, an option the firm underwrote when acquiring the site in 2023.
“We’re not in trouble because we planned for this up-front, but there’s certainly instances of other developers across Pennsylvania who didn’t leave that flexibility in their budgeting and are struggling right now,” Greek said. However, he cautioned that a successful subdivision requires more than a demising wall: entrance and loading dock placement, utility separation, parking requirements, tenant compatibility, and lender approval all shape whether a multitenant plan can work.
The trend extends well beyond city limits. Colliers found that 55 percent of the 38 leases signed in speculative buildings regionwide over the same period were for demised spaces, and CoStar data cited in the article shows roughly 70 percent of national industrial leases in buildings larger than 500,000 square feet went to multitenant properties between 2023 and last quarter.
Read the full feature for a deeper look at how Philadelphia’s industrial owners are repositioning speculative product for the tenants actually in the market.