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In a world increasingly driven by digital infrastructure, industrial space is being redefined—not just by location or zoning, but by access to power. In Episode 60 of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Pete DiSanto, a marine engineer turned microgrid and energy infrastructure expert, to explore why “speed-to-power” is becoming the single most important metric in data center site selection—and why industrial developers need to rethink what makes land viable.

Pete brings decades of experience across energy systems, from gas turbines to modular nuclear design, and offers a sobering truth: real estate is now an energy business. If you’re developing, investing in, or underwriting industrial space for data center use or even just adjacent uses, this episode provides the playbook for navigating the most urgent constraint facing digital infrastructure growth: the electric grid.

⚡ Power First, Everything Else Second

Traditionally, developers evaluated industrial land based on proximity to highways, rail, broadband, and zoning. But in today’s environment, those are secondary to energy. Pete explains how ballooning interconnection queues, some stretching 3 to 7 years, delay or kill otherwise promising projects.

“Just adding a transformer,” he notes, is a dangerously outdated mindset. Today’s hyperscale users and enterprise tenants require megawatts of reliable, scalable power, not promises. And when that power doesn’t exist, they walk.

That’s why power has to be the first conversation, not the last, in the new calculus of industrial space.

🏗️ Data Centers: The New Industrial Backbone

We tend to think of data centers as niche assets, but Pete argues that they’re now core industrial infrastructure. They’re the digital backbone of every other sector—from healthcare to logistics, manufacturing to AI. They’re also the most energy-hungry buildings on the planet.

As data center developers scramble for sites, the bottleneck isn’t land—it’s electrons. That reality has flipped the development model on its head. Increasingly, projects begin not with entitlements or tenants, but with energy audits, utility negotiations, and microgrid feasibility.

Pete outlines how natural gas pipelines, LNG bridging solutions, and behind-the-meter microgrids are becoming key underwriting criteria for industrial real estate investors. In some cases, developers are even leading with gas interconnection strategies before they’ve finalized site acquisition.

🔋 Solving for “Speed-to-Power”

“Speed-to-market” used to mean site work, permitting, and lease-up. Today, it means speed-to-power.

Pete introduces a critical distinction between traditional grid-connected solutions and dispatchable on-site power, like the microgrids built by companies such as Enchanted Rock. These systems use natural gas to generate reliable power independent of utility delays, with the ability to transition to grid-supporting functions as needed.

For investors and developers navigating grid-constrained markets like Chicago, Dallas, or Northern Virginia, these solutions are no longer “nice-to-haves”—they’re make-or-break components of the capital stack.

🛠️ Key Takeaways from Episode 60

1. Interconnection delays are the new zoning challenge.
Waiting 5 years for power? That land may be worthless to a data center investor, regardless of its size or location.

2. Utility infrastructure is no longer enough.
Standard grid hookups can’t keep up with modern demand. Developers must plan for on-site generation, redundancy, and rapid scaling.

3. Natural gas is a real estate variable now.
Pipelines, pressure levels, and local regulation now influence site selection and valuation, especially for industrial space targeting tech or logistics users.

4. Nuclear is coming.
Pete breaks down the promise of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and how forward-thinking developers are already exploring their feasibility. While not viable for every deal, they signal a long-term shift toward localized, scalable clean power.

5. The best deals are built on energy-first thinking.
Pete’s final point is blunt: “If you don’t solve for power, you don’t have a deal.”

🏢 What This Means for Industrial Real Estate

For brokers, developers, and asset managers focused on industrial space, this episode is a wake-up call. Ten years ago, fiber was a premium. Today, it’s expected. The next premium—and soon, the baseline—is resilient power.

Whether you’re working on data centers, manufacturing facilities, logistics hubs, or life science campuses, your industrial site is only as good as its energy plan. Smart investors are already adjusting their models, adding energy consultants to their teams, and baking power timelines into their pro formas.

If you’re not doing the same, you risk losing to faster, more informed competitors.

🧭 Take the Next Step

Learn more about industrial real estate development at Van Vlissingen & Co:
🔗 vvco.com/industrial-space-in-chicago-buy-sell-lease
📥 Download our action plans for industrial occupiers, sellers, and investors.

Explore how Enchanted Rock is solving power delays for developers:
🔗 enchantedrock.com

Subscribe to The Real Finds Podcast for more CRE intelligence:
🎧 Watch Episode 60 on YouTube

📣 Final Thought

Power planning is real estate planning.

Whether you’re entitling land for development, acquiring industrial space for a tenant, or repositioning a legacy asset, energy is now the most decisive factor in valuation and velocity. This episode arms you with the mindset—and the technical insights—you need to stay ahead of the curve.

As Pete DiSanto puts it:

“You don’t get to take a day off. You either solve the problem, or you don’t get home.”

If you’re looking to develop or invest in industrial space with an eye toward the future, it’s time to start thinking like a utility company.