Avison Young closed on the sale of a 182,298-square-foot, industrial portfolio at 1900-2000 Carboy Drive in Mount Prospect, Illinois, just north of O’Hare International Airport. The two-building, multi-tenant portfolio is currently 90 percent leased.
Avison Young principals Erik Foster and Mike Wilson, based in the company’s Chicago office and members of the firm’s national industrial capital markets group, represented the owner, Chicago-based Brennan Investment Group. The team worked in conjunction with Avison Young principals Chris Lydon and Chris Tecu, who are also based in the Chicago office. The buyer was San Francisco-based Glen Una Management Company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Investors continue to focus on the O’Hare industrial market, which has seen significant investment, leasing and development activity in recent years,” said Foster. “This portfolio was well-received in the market, as it offered investors a strong entry into this thriving industrial market.”
The buildings are located on 8.23 acres in the O’Hare submarket, one of the strongest industrial markets in the country. Tenants in these two buildings benefit from proximity to Algonquin Road, I-90 and the Union Pacific Rail Line. The property will also soon connect with O’Hare International Airport upon completion of the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway expansion.
The O’Hare market continues to experience significant leasing, construction and investment activity, with 417,995 square feet of net absorption through May 20, 2019. This follows 1.6 million square feet of net absorption in 2018 and 1.5 million square feet in 2017. The current vacancy rate is 6.3 percent, up 50 basis points from 2018.
To date in 2019, there were four buildings totaling 982,105 square feet delivered, with eight other buildings, totaling 796,482 square feet under construction. Developers added 14 buildings in 2018, totaling 2.05 million square feet, according to CoStar research.
Recent investment activity, provided by Real Capital Analytics, shows that, in addition to the Carboy Drive sale, there were 91 industrial properties totaling 12.3 million square feet sold in Chicago in Q1 2019. Canadian investors in particular have shon a strong interest in the Chicago market, purchasing $77 million in Chicago-area properties throughout the first quarter. Israel and the United Arab Emirates also invested significantly in Chicago-area industrial properties this year.
Chicago continues to attract a range of investors, from institutional investors to REITS and private investors. A review of activity over the past 24 months shows that equity funds increased their acting in Chicago in Q1 2019 and accounted for 30.9 percent of acquisitions. Equity funds acquired 111 buildings totaling $1.5 billion during that time period. Public REITS acquired 53 buildings totaling $2.31 billion.
