Prologis and GIC Launch $1.6B Venture for Custom U.S. Warehouses

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – March 19, 2026 – Logistics real estate giant Prologis, Inc. and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, have announced a formidable $1.6 billion joint venture aimed at developing and owning custom-built logistics facilities across major U.S. markets. The partnership signals a major bet on the enduring demand for highly specialized warehouses driven by the seismic shifts in e-commerce and global supply chains.

The new venture launches with a combined capital commitment of $1.6 billion and an initial portfolio of approximately 4.1 million square feet, with significant capacity for future expansion. It pairs Prologis, the world's largest logistics real estate company with $230 billion in assets under management, with the long-term institutional capital of GIC, a leading global investor. The partnership will operate within Prologis Strategic Capital, the company's asset management arm, which manages $102 billion in assets.

"Build-to-suit activity continues to be one of the clearest signals of customer conviction across our business," said Daniel S. Letter, chief executive officer of Prologis, in the announcement. "This joint venture with GIC builds on that momentum by pairing our platform and development expertise with a partner that shares our long-term perspective."

The Surge in Tailor-Made Logistics

The partnership arrives as the "build-to-suit" (BTS) model moves from a niche offering to a dominant force in industrial development. This trend reflects a fundamental change in how companies view their distribution networks—not as mere storage spaces, but as mission-critical hubs of technology and efficiency. In 2025 alone, Prologis initiated $3.1 billion in new development projects, with BTS projects accounting for a staggering 60% of those starts.

This demand is fueled by several powerful economic currents. The relentless growth of e-commerce requires facilities designed for high-speed sorting and last-mile delivery. Simultaneously, a strategic push towards re-shoring and near-shoring supply chains has companies seeking to establish permanent, resilient logistics footprints within the U.S. to mitigate global disruptions.

Unlike speculative warehouses built to general standards, BTS facilities are designed from the ground up to a specific tenant's needs. They are increasingly complex structures, engineered to support advanced automation, robotics, high-throughput sorting systems, and sometimes specialized climate controls. For tenants, this customization provides certainty in location, functionality, and long-term occupancy, making it a practical solution for supply chains that are in a constant state of evolution.

Billions Bet on the Stability of Boxes

For institutional investors like GIC, the appeal of the U.S. logistics sector—and BTS projects in particular—lies in its unique combination of growth and stability. These projects carry a distinctly favorable risk profile because they are typically pre-leased to a single, committed tenant before construction even begins. The long-term leases, often with blue-chip companies that view the facility as indispensable to their operations, create a predictable, long-duration income stream that is highly attractive in a volatile economic climate.

"With strong e-commerce growth, the re-shoring of supply chains and resilient consumer spending, industrial remains a strong long-term investment theme in North America," stated Goh Chin Kiong, Chief Investment Officer of Real Estate at GIC. "Our partnership with Prologis, a best-in-class operator, reflects our shared conviction in the sector and likeminded approach to deploying capital with discipline across cycles."

This venture is a prime example of the function of Prologis Strategic Capital, the company’s asset management business. This division allows Prologis to leverage its vast development pipeline and operational expertise while co-investing alongside major institutional partners. By bringing in third-party capital—which currently stands at $67 billion—Prologis can scale its development activities beyond what its own balance sheet might allow, generating durable fee-based revenue and enhancing shareholder returns. This model, part-real estate operator and part-investment manager, sets it apart from many competitors in the REIT space.

Mapping the New Economic Footprint

While the joint venture did not specify the exact locations for its new developments, the investment will target "major U.S. markets." Industry analysis points toward a clear strategy focused on high-barrier, high-growth regions that are central to the nation's flow of goods. These include critical port markets like Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/New Jersey, which are the primary gateways for international trade and are seeing increased volume from re-shoring activities.

Major inland distribution hubs are also prime candidates. Cities such as Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, and Chicago serve as crucial nodes in the national transportation network, allowing for efficient distribution to vast swaths of the country. Furthermore, the venture will likely target areas with large, growing populations to facilitate the rapid "last-mile" delivery that e-commerce customers now expect.

The development of these large-scale logistics hubs creates a significant economic ripple effect. They are major sources of job creation, not only in construction but also in warehouse operations, transportation, and technical support for automated systems. This investment wave also places new demands on local infrastructure, often spurring public and private spending on roads, utilities, and other essential services needed to support these massive facilities.

A Competitive Landscape Dominated by Scale

The $1.6 billion commitment from Prologis and GIC underscores the intense competition and massive scale required to lead in today's industrial real estate market. While Prologis stands as the undisputed global leader, it operates in a landscape populated by other formidable players, including major institutional investors like Blackstone, which has also invested tens of billions into logistics properties, and other large industrial REITs.

In this environment, success is increasingly defined by two key factors: access to vast pools of capital and an integrated platform that can manage every stage of a property's lifecycle, from land acquisition and development to leasing and long-term operations. This joint venture exemplifies that formula. It combines GIC’s patient, long-term capital with Prologis’s unparalleled development pipeline, market intelligence, and existing customer relationships.

By focusing on the high-demand BTS sector, the partnership is strategically positioned to capture the most committed tenants in the market. As companies continue to invest heavily in optimizing their supply chains for a new era of commerce, the demand for these purpose-built, technologically advanced logistics centers shows no signs of slowing down.