Travis Wood spent six years at Prologis, working his way up from property management to leasing on a small team covering 15 to 16 million square feet in the Baltimore and DC market. Then he and his wife made the leap: a new city, a brand new Lee & Associates office in Charlotte, and straight commission. Two and a half years later, Lee Charlotte has grown to 17 people and Travis is part of the four-person JGPT team.

We get into what the owner side teaches you about brokers, how the JGPT team formed (the name is a play on AI, but it's all human intelligence), and the day-to-day mechanics of building a pipeline: four hours a day of prospecting, why he skips the voicemail on the first call, the handwritten note that got a callback, picking a CRM as a team, and why every call should bring a piece of information.

We finish with the Charlotte industrial market: growth, new supply, the flight to quality, tight flex and small bay product, owner-user pricing, and how to price industrial outdoor storage.

Key Takeaways

• Every successful career has an inflection point where you take a risk. Travis left a salaried Prologis seat for commission in a city where he knew almost no one.
• Seeing every brokerage shop from the owner side teaches you what works. Borrow the best approach from each.
• Prospecting is not optional. The JGPT team blocks four hours a day for calls, texts and emails, because not every deal in the pipeline closes.
• Casual and direct beats scripted. And when an owner won't take your call, a teammate with a different style might get through.
• Skip the voicemail on the first call. Send a short, vague text instead. In the AI age, a real text proves you're a real person.
• Never make a truly cold call. Bring a piece of information and it becomes a lukewarm call.
• Luck is a numbers game. Put yourself in position more often and more deals hit.
• Charlotte is growing fast: roughly 135 new residents a day, heavy new supply, positive absorption, and a flight to quality as new 32-foot buildings compete with older 24-foot product.
• Small bay and flex are tight. Owner-user sales run around $200 a foot, and flex rents have reached about $17 for 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
• IOS pencils because outdoor storage costs a fraction of storing the same equipment inside. The gap between the two is where the value is.

Guest: Travis Wood, Senior Associate, Lee & Associates Charlotte

Host: Justin Smith, SIOR, Lee & Associates Irvine

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/TqA0Xk-Nx3M

What happens when a manufacturer or data center finds a site but cannot get connected to the grid for five or six years? Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, joins Justin Smith to explain why electric demand caught utilities off guard, what is slowing new connections, and how power is becoming part of industrial site selection.

We discuss rising utility bills, the culture clash between fast-moving tech firms and reliability-focused utilities, the race for AI power, regional differences from Northern Virginia to Texas and Ohio, and practical ways to get more out of the grid we already have. Rob also explains the three Ps of transmission (planning, permitting and paying) and why a willingness to pay for a project does not make the cost-sharing decision simple.

Key Takeaways

• Utilities are telling some large new customers they cannot connect them for five or six years. Grid capacity, not land, now sets many start dates.
• The five-year U.S. load growth forecast rose from 2.6% to 4.7% in a single year (Grid Strategies, December 2023).
• Rising bills have many causes: new demand, expensive equipment, rebuilding after wildfires and storms, and replacing aging equipment.
• Big loads chase grid capacity, then move on once it is used up.
• Wind-cooled lines, smarter charging and batteries can all get more out of the existing grid.
• For power-intensive site searches, bring grid expertise onto the site selection team early.

Recorded September 30, 2026. Later that day, the Senate released the bipartisan permitting bill Rob mentions, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026. Rob had not reviewed the bill text on air.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7I6DC9lJzU

Guest: Rob Gramlich, President, Grid Strategies
Host: Justin Smith, SIOR, Lee & Associates Irvine

I sat down with Jack Cline, President of Lee & Associates Downtown Los Angeles, to talk about the buildings he holds, the market he knows and the brokerage business he is still building.

We cover Vernon and Commerce, power for data centers, a changing choice of buildings for sale, Bill Lee's broker-owned model, using Claude to work through office economics, building young brokers and the books Jack gives away. I also share what ownership and a loan rate reset taught me about the questions I ask on somebody else's deal.

Recorded Oct. 2, 2026. Jack's investment figures, office economics and market observations are his account in this conversation. His comments about rates, cold-storage demand and development reflect his views as of the recording.

• Why Jack says the deals he regrets are the buildings he sold
• How partnership and cash flow shape his approach to ownership
• Vernon and Commerce, sale supply and slower price adjustment
• Why he sees power as central to data-center site decisions
• Bill Lee's broker-owned office model and recruiting economics
• Four runners, a learning curriculum and the next generation
• A prescription pad for books and the danger of getting comfortable

• 00:00:00 Youth Champions and mindset
• 00:03:27 LA industrial: Downtown, Vernon and Commerce
• 00:04:45 Data centers and power in Vernon
• 00:07:25 Vernon housing and local government
• 00:09:50 Cold storage in Vernon
• 00:13:15 A sales overhang and slower price correction
• 00:14:40 Where interest rates settle
• 00:15:39 LA City, Prologis and Measure ULA
• 00:17:55 Property rights
• 00:19:28 Opening Lee's Downtown LA office
• 00:22:27 Building young brokers
• 00:23:31 The next generation at Lee
• 00:26:03 Growing the pie and investing with clients
• 00:27:26 Bill Lee and the broker-owned model
• 00:29:51 Recruiting with AI and the office flywheel
• 00:31:36 Presidents meetings
• 00:32:52 Strategic Coach, EOS and personal growth
• 00:34:40 Owning buildings
• 00:39:51 Books he prescribes
• 00:43:31 Complacency and a bigger life

Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oz13DErJIU

Full transcript: https://smithcre.com/podcast/jack-cline/

Renew or relocate? Get the free Industrial Relocation Guide: https://smithcre.com/market-reports/industrial-insights-industrial-relocation-guide/

Guest: Jack Cline, President, Lee & Associates Downtown Los Angeles. Host: Justin Smith, SIOR.