The ever-increasing demand for last-mile distribution centers has finally given a developer the confidence, and financing, to build a speculative industrial building in Long Island.

Lincoln Equities Group will break ground in the third quarter of 2018 on a 195K SF warehouse and distribution facility in the Nassau County town of Hicksville, at 344 Duffy Ave. Completion is expected by the second quarter of 2019, and Lincoln has tabbed JLL Executive Vice President Thomas DiMicelli to handle leasing efforts.

"Aside from one industrial building in Port Washington that was built for the user, there has been no new construction of industrial product on Long Island in at least five years," DiMicelli said.

Lincoln President Joel Bergstein said the building will be marketed as a last-mile facility to logistics companies and e-commerce retailers, and will be outfitted with 20 to 30 loading docks, 32-foot to 50-foot high ceilings and modern safety and energy-efficiency systems to accommodate the specific needs of distributors.

As e-commerce has grown to dominate the demand drivers of the industrial real estate market, New Jersey has seen the lion's share of new construction in the New York metropolitan area. But with unprecedented construction still unable to keep up with demand, users in need of space might need to cast a wider net.

Lincoln Equities has built speculative product in New Jersey in the last couple of years, and Bergstein said in 2016 that he was looking into continuing that pattern.