For generations, the gospel of commercial real estate was simple: location, location, location. “Main and Main” — that coveted intersection of heavy automobile traffic and rail commuter lines — was the essential first criterion for any shopping center, department store, warehouse or office building. Get the address right and tenants would follow.
That calculus is over.
Access to reliable heavy power has upended the age-old real estate imperative. The new mantra, embraced by site selectors and developers from coast to coast, is location, power, location. Before a letter of intent is drafted, before a seller is approached, before a broker earns a commission, one question now dominates: Can this site handle the required energy load?
Is there access to a microgrid? Are there adequate transmission lines? Those are no longer technical afterthoughts. They are the opening lines of due diligence.
A NEW VOCABULARY
The disrup
