Industrial construction has been swarming the Greater Chicago market this year and the latest numbers show there’s plenty more to come . Construction deliveries in 2016 are expected to surpass 20 million square feet of new product, according to a research analysis by Colliers International | Chicago.
The market most recently saw a record-breaking third quarter with 19.4 million square feet of ongoing construction–a considerable spike compared to the 16.7 million square feet in the second quarter.
Of that 19.4 million-square-foot figure, speculative development accounted for 8.7 million square feet, making up roughly 45 percent of the 61 total projects underway in the market. The remaining activity consisted of build-to-suits and building expansions.
“Very low vacancy rates across all Chicago industrial submarkets combined with high demand from investors for core product in this market has created extremely favorable market conditions for Chicago,” said Craig Hurvitz, vice president of Market Research at Colliers | Chicago. “We saw total ongoing construction activity increase by 3 million square feet during the third quarter when compared to the second quarter, and have more ongoing activity now than we did during the previous construction boom in 2007.”
A total of 25 projects began construction in the third quarter, contributing 7.3 million square feet. And more than half of those currently under construction are expected to wrap up by year-end. Click here to a view an interactive map of current market projects, courtesy of Colliers International.
