Duke Realty Corporation is a real estate investment trust that leases and manages Industrial Properties like warehouses (accounting for 70% of total square feet) and office buildings (accounting for 28% of total square feet). Business parks are mixed use developments that contain restaurants and other amenities in order to create a conducive atmosphere for tenants. DRE owns 726 rental properties (including 38 properties with 10.0 million square feet under development) and over 121.1 million rentable square feet based predominantly in the Midwest. The Midwest accounts for almost 70% of DRE's annual net effective rent.^[1]

Duke's large presence in the Midwest has proven disadvantageous because demand in the region for industrial and office space has fallen from the year 2000 onwards because of a declining manufacturing sector. Also, barriers to entry in the region are low as competitors have ready access to land and can easily construct competing sites. DRE is moving away from the relatively stagnant Midwestern real estate market, and has sold a billion dollars in property with plans to use these funds to develop investments in more lucrative markets.

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