Chicago's industrial market opened 2017 with a record amount of absorption, the surest sign that the sector continues to be one of the best performing in Chicago commercial real estate. That is the main takeaway from NGKF's Q1 industrial market report.
Over 3.5M SF of industrial space was absorbed in the first three months of the year, nearly 3% higher than Q1 2016. The total absorption for the past 12 months is an astounding 14.5M SF. In spite of this, the vacancy rate remained stable at 7.6% because 4.8M SF of new space came online.
The Chicago industrial market has now experienced 28 consecutive quarters of positive growth.
Another takeaway from the report: build-to-suit projects are dominating construction activity. There is 14M SF of product in the pipeline; 8.6M SF is build-to-suit. And the activity in Q1 was strongest along the I-80 Corridor and the inner western suburbs. Inner west Cook County saw 637K SF of absorption and experienced more growth than the past two years combined. Highlights of the activity include Regeant Products Corp. renewing its 531K SF in River Grove. Parts Town's new 263K SF lease in Addison and Subzero's lease for 226K SF in Gilberts were also top deals of the quarter.
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