Mid-Atlantic Industrial & Manufacturing Summit to examine region's next industrial growth cycle. BISWIRE/Sept. 23, 2026 - Bisnow's Mid-Atlantic Industrial & Manufacturing Summit will bring together leading owners, developers, investors and industrial professionals on October 1 at 8221 Preston Court in Jessup to examine the demand drivers, leasing momentum, development pipeline, construction challenges and investment conditions shaping the region's next cycle of growth. With industrial demand continuing to shape markets throughout the Mid-Atlantic, the summit will provide attendees with a closer look at where leasing demand is strongest, which projects are moving forward and how developers and investors are navigating scarce land, elevated construction costs and selective financing. Attendees will hear directly from industry leaders about tenant site selection, building specifications, location factors and lease terms, as well as how industrial projects are being capitalized and where investors see the strongest conviction. The event will also examine what the Mid-Atlantic industrial market could look like heading into 2027 as the national supply wave recedes. Featured panels include: * Investing in Industrial: How Capital Market Providers and Investors are Sourcing, Financing, Underwriting and Acquiring Mid-Atlantic Industrial * MRP Industrial * Merritt Properties * Brennan Investment Group * JLL Capital Markets * 1788 Holdings * Rockefeller Group * The Industrial Leasing and Tenant Demand Outlook: Demand Drivers, Tenant Priorities, and the Submarkets Winning Mid-Atlantic Industrial * Prologis * EQT Real Estate * ARCO Design/Build The summit is supported by ARCO Design/Build, Attabuild, Conewago Manufacturing, LLC, Dynamic Energy Solutions, LLC, Howard Development Limited Partnership, JLL - DC, Peoples Bank, Pfister Energy, Inc., The Rockefeller Group and Washington Gas. The event will be held at 8221 Preston Court, Suite B & C, Jessup, MD 20794, in the Baltimore-Washington Industrial Park. The venue offers 135+ parking spaces in the front and back of the building, plus street parking. For all questions regarding content, speaker recommendations or sponsorship opportunities, please email Ian Wheeler at [email protected].

AI is making it harder to predict office space needs - so landlords are tightening leases. One real estate attorney compared today's AI leasing boom to the dot-com era, which is a warning sign for landlords wary of overcommitting to startups that may not last. Reading Time: 3 mins read Two years ago, the biggest question for office landlords was how much space companies would need post-pandemic. Now that question has been replaced by a harder one: what happens to office demand as AI changes the workforce itself? Speaking at industry events this week, including Bisnow's 2026 New York Commercial Leasing and Asset Management Conference, real estate executives said that uncertainty is now the dominant force behind lease negotiations across Manhattan. Even companies with long, stable histories say it's gotten difficult to plan ahead. KPMG holds a secure long-term lease in Manhattan but has decisions looming on offices in other cities within five years, and the firm's real estate leadership says forecasting space needs even a few years out, let alone by 2031, has become far harder with AI's labor impact still unclear, according to Bisnow. Advertisements That's not an isolated concern. A recent survey of senior executives found 60% say AI has made it harder to predict their office space needs over the next two years, and 88% say flexibility in real estate has become more important as a result. A tighter market shifts the power balance. That uncertainty is colliding with a market that's tightening fast. Manhattan is headed for its best leasing year since 2000, and available space has dropped to its lowest level since 2020, sitting at 12.5% borough-wide and just 3.5% in top-tier buildings, according to Colliers. Landlords say large spaces are now fielding multiple competing offers, a dramatic change from the tenant-friendly conditions of a few years ago. Advertisements With that leverage, ownership groups are pulling back the flexible terms, like contraction and early termination options, that became common after 2020. Firms including Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Properties say tenants are now expected to commit to space that accounts for future growth upfront rather than negotiating room to scale down later. Free-rent periods and tenant improvement allowances have also shrunk, with one major landlord, SL Green, reporting drops from 18 months of free rent to roughly 14-16, and improvement allowances falling from the $150-$165 per-square-foot range to about $145-$150. Tech's growth comes with landlord caution. AI isn't just complicating forecasts for existing tenants - it's also changing who gets approved for new leases. Technology firms are now the second-most active leasing sector after financial services, with a large share of that activity driven by AI startups. But unlike legal or financial tenants with decades of operating history, many AI companies are new enough that landlords say they have to dig deeper into leadership and financial backing before signing off, and some deals have fallen apart entirely over those concerns. One real estate attorney at the Bisnow conference likened the current pace of AI-driven leasing to the dot-com boom of the early 2000s, a comparison that underscores why landlords are treating this wave of tenants more cautiously than past growth cycles. What this means going forward. Flexibility hasn't vanished entirely. Landlords say they'll still extend more favorable terms to tenants with strong credit and long track records, particularly on larger transactions, but typically only in exchange for firmer long-term commitments. For most companies, though, the message from this week's industry gatherings was consistent: with space tightening and AI adding a new layer of unpredictability, landlords have little incentive to offer the kind of flexibility that defined the post-pandemic years. Advertisements The Allwork.Space News Team is a collective of experienced journalists, editors, and industry analysts dedicated to covering the ever-evolving world of work. We're committed to delivering trusted, independent reporting on the topics that matter most to professionals navigating today's changing workplace - including remote work, flexible offices, coworking, workplace wellness, sustainability, commercial real estate, technology, and more. AI has muddied future workspace needs, making flex space a practical way to buy time, capacity and optionality.