The second quarter was a strong one for Chicago’s big-box industrial assets, according to the latest research from Colliers.
In its Chicago Big Box Industrial report, Colliers said that the city market’s largest and most modern industrial properties posted positive net absorption of 4.8 million square feet during the second quarter of the year.
That is an improvement of 5.9 million square feet compared to the negative 1.2 million square feet of absorption recorded in this slice of the industrial market in the first quarter of the year.
What was behind the big improvement in Chicago’s big-box industrial activity? Colliers pointed to strong tenant demand and the completion of five big-box build-to-suit projects totaling 2.6 million square feet.
New industrial leasing activity in the Chicago big-box industrial market increased by 65% to 6.3 million square feet. And with only one big-box speculative project completed, the big-box vacancy rate dropped by 57 basis points to 8.87% in the Chicago market, Colliers reported.
