That’s right. Despite a rollercoaster of CRE metrics brought about by COVID-19, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ranked No. 8 in the U.S. for new construction from 2012 to 2021, according to a recent report by StorageCafe.
Development in the first half of the decade was slow. Many markets were still navigating the aftermath of the Great Recession. It is just in the last five years that we’ve seen the national pick-up, not excluding 2020 and 2021.
The leading market? Industrial, of course.
Over 162 million square feet of industrial space was added to Chicago’s inventory, according to StorageCafe, accounting for roughly 7% of the 2.2 billion square feet delivered to America’s 50 largest metros.
2021 saw the best numbers of the decade, largely due to Amazon’s build-to-suit properties that were delivered and occupied last year.
Though Chicago fell behind other large U.S. metros in markets like single- and multifamily, with only 79,090 single family homes and 84,740 multifamily units permitted, StorageCafe uncovered another market that helped pave the way to Chicago’s No. 8 spot. Self storage, with close to 300 million square feet of inventory added across the leading metros during the decade.
Numbers in this market especially spiked during COVID-19.
When StorageCafe asked Yardi Matrix Business Intelligence Manager Doug Ressler about the most notable trends in self storage during that time, Ressler said:
“The market is getting a big boost as demand comes not only from traditional sources, generally referred to as the 4 D’s—death, divorce, disaster and dislocation—but from additional drivers as well, including decluttering and distribution/business needs. In fact, operators are looking for new uses of self storage properties, including industrial distribution and logistics facilities.”
