Tijuana is reaching the point that sets the most advanced industrial markets apart: when demand requires institutional quality and supply calls in those who can build it.

Institutional quality is not an adjective; it is a threshold. It means buildings that operate under global standards: certified safety, functional heights and yards, access control, energy efficiency, traceability, fire protection systems, auditing, and a design capable of serving not only local clients but also multinational chains that require precision.

Ernesto Rodríguez Villatoro, CEO of MIL: México Industrial & Logistics, sees this as a natural market transition: “Demand remains positive, especially for well-located, efficient projects with first-rate infrastructure.” In his view, “the opportunity lies in raising the standard of the traditional product” with developments that can adapt to different industries and meet sustainability and certification criteria—an approach that guides the industrial complex the firm is building in the eastern part of the city, where three Class A buildings will add up to nearly 90,000 square meters of gross leasable area.

Tijuana currently has 9.1 million square meters of industrial space, of which nearly 60% is Class A: modern, efficient properties built to current operating standards. But the most revealing signal lies in the trend: over the past five years, 91% of new inventory delivered has been Class A, whereas before 2020 that share did not exceed 80%. In other words, the market has not only grown; it has steadily raised the quality of what it builds.

This progress coincides with a market that is starting to move more carefully. According to SiiLA data, the vacancy rate, which was hovering around 1% at the end of 2023, now stands at about 6.1%, and new projects are moving forward with more planning. Thus, instead of racing to add space at all costs, the region is entering a phase in which the key demand shifts from volume to performance, and companies are no longer looking for just any space, but for one that meets verifiable standards.

The evolution of standards also helps explain why new players are entering the market. Among them is MRP, which created MIL as part of a strategy to participate in a segment where demand for very high-quality, efficient buildings is increasingly visible. As Rodríguez notes, in Tijuana, “even with the natural adjustments of the cycle, the city maintains strong potential for institutional-grade industrial projects,” a condition that combines its border location with a highly specialized manufacturing base and a steady flow of nearshoring-related operations.

In this context, the arrival of new players means more than fresh capital: it demands technical capacity to operate in an environment where the margin for error is increasingly narrow and tenants’ needs are far more specific, and where responding to the urgency of the cycle is not enough to secure long-term returns without building assets capable of adjusting to the operational and regulatory changes that define the border.

That is why this interest in Tijuana—and in other industrial hubs across the country—is not just a sign of growth, but of maturity. México is entering a stage where industrial markets function as systems: each building aligns with global rules, and each city competes on sophistication, not speed. And in an economy where manufacturing accounts for more than one-fifth of GDP and geopolitics is reshaping entire value chains, the border is no longer a race for availability, but a competition over standards. It is at that threshold—where quality determines the market—that the true map of the country’s industrial development begins to take shape.

For a deeper analysis of the industrial market, visit SiiLA REsource or write to us at contacto@siila.com.mx.