By Javier Lemarroy Mendoza, CEO at Why Mexico
In recent years, industrial parks have become an irresistible trend in Mexico’s real estate sector. Driven by strong demand for logistics distribution, the rise of the term “nearshoring” in the media, and the reconfiguration of global supply chains, these developments are perceived as a gold mine—but not all of them live up to the real expectations that their success demands.
The contrast is clear. Institutional developers understand that an industrial park is not built on models, renderings, or pre-sale plans, but on capital, planning, and market intelligence based on anticipating demand and knowing what it requires. Their model is based on building speculative warehouses ready for rent, integrating high-end infrastructure services, and maintaining an orderly balance between supply and absorption —where even legal certainty is a minimum requirement, not an added value. It is this discipline that generates confidence in investors and competitiveness for companies that may wish to set up shop there. But indeed, this is not everything.
At the other extreme are the new developers who reduce the creation of industrial parks to eye-catching renderings and pre-sale of land at inflated prices, relying on unrealistic capital gains that are not supported by demand or high-end infrastructure services. The risk is obvious: empty projects that distort the market and compromise the credibility of a sector that should be consolidated on firm foundations.
The true value of an industrial park lies not in the square feet sold or the pre-sale models, but in its ability to generate industrial viability within sectoral ecosystems. In other words, spaces that integrate anchor companies, suppliers, talent, academies, and specialized services, designed with market intelligence and addressing real needs of supply chains.
I have seen this firsthand on my international travels. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Gothenburg, Sweden, and tour the Lindholmen Science Park. The first thing that struck me was that there was no talk of selling land or rushing to build empty buildings. The project was not born from renderings or pre-sales, but from a concept: to create an ecosystem focused on science, innovation, and technology. First, the country’s most important companies were invited to set up their research and development (R&D + Innovation) centers, and with those anchors secured, a model for enrolling suppliers was generated and universities joined in. Only then did the real estate component emerge, where spaces were leased and sold to companies eager to be part of the ecosystem. The result is a park where companies do not need to be convinced to set up shop: they must be there because the ecosystem itself compels them to belong.
The true wealth of this sector is not measured in quick capital gains, profitable square footage, or dream scenarios in Excel spreadsheets, but in the value generated when companies want to be there because the ecosystem makes them indispensable and the domino effect of economic development that they trigger.
Javier Lemarroy
He is a strategic industrial promoter in Mexico, focusing on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and industrial parks. He is the CEO at Why Mexico, a firm specializing in soft landing for companies within industrial parks. He was CEO of the Association of Industrial Parks of the State of Jalisco and ExProMéxico. He has more than 297 investment agendas attended and has developed trade missions to promote Mexico in Germany, Sweden, South Korea, the US, Portugal, Qatar, Dubai, Italy, among others.
