Chicago is one of the US’s biggest logistics hubs. But in 2021, Will Renner, who heads Midwest industrial and logistics for multinational property developer Hines, moved his base from Illinois’s biggest city to Tulsa in Oklahoma. He spoke to fDi about the movement of logistics to the country’s south and what’s driving record property investment in Oklahoma.

Q: How do you see the Midwest’s network of logistics hubs changing?

A: When I moved to Tulsa in 2021, the bet I was making was that industrial logistics would increasingly become an important asset class not just in the Chicagos of the world, but also in cities like Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Tulsa and Louisville. So it would become an increasingly relevant asset class across central logistics nodes in the US. The central US is attractive, especially for things like truck-driven distribution, due to how much of the US population you can access within a day trip. Of course, Chicago has some unique transportation infrastructure elements, such as rail [networks], that aren’t necessarily in other Midwest markets. But largely speaking, the Midwest is attractive, because it’s the crossroads of America.

Q: What about states further south in the region? 

A: That same geographic advantage is shared by the southern Midwest, be it Oklahoma or maybe to a lesser extent Arkansas. The added benefit of being in these markets is they are typically pro-growth, relatively business-friendly and tax-friendly environments, which can sometimes differentiate them from other US logistics markets. 

The other piece that we’re seeing signs of maturing, is there’s clearly an opportunity for Oklahoma to draft off of a lot of the positive momentum we're seeing in Texas markets from a logistics standpoint. Obviously, Hines is very active in Texas [where it is headquartered]. The increase in supply, but also absorption, in the Dallas-Fort Worth industrial market, Houston industrial market, and so on, we believe helps Oklahoma long-term. And the potential increased reliance on goods being transported across the Mexico border is likely to be a positive element going forward for Oklahoma’s industrial logistics ecosystem. 

Q: In Oklahoma, you lead all market segments for Hines. What’s behind inbound property investment into the state hitting record highs in 2023?

A: Moving to Tulsa was really making a bet on all of the positive things happening across real estate that benefit from in-migration and jobs. Oklahoma and Arkansas are two states leading [Hines’s categorisation of] the Midwest from the standpoint of people moving in versus people moving out. In a nutshell, that’s why you're seeing increased capital investment, regardless of whether it’s international or domestic. That includes the residential side … to capture existing populations’ desire for housing, but also people moving into Oklahoma, most notably from larger markets who are already used to having a certain type of housing product that just doesn’t exist here in the same scale.

Q: Which of Oklahoma City’s new property developments are most interesting?

A: If you look at the city’s trajectory, especially since the NBA team came to be, it’s really been unbelievable what the coupling of public leadership with senior business leadership can do. The [proposed new $900m downtown] arena is a great example. That’s the exact kind of project we were keeping tabs on and would love to eventually be involved in. All over the world we do large, mixed-use projects usually anchored by something like an arena or cultural institution. It requires a master developer to be fluent across all asset classes. So it’s something we hope to stay close to.

This article first appeared in the April/May 2024 print edition of fDi Intelligence.