Acting as tenant and landlord representative, respectively, Cushman & Wakefield closed on ten transactions across the I-55 Corridor in the first quarter of 2019, totaling more than 1.5 million square feet. Robust leasing activity and a 360-basis point year-over-year decrease point to strong demand for this Chicago submarket.
“Much of the inventory in the I-55 Corridor that was built in the last 12 to 24 months has been absorbed. Net absorption measured 673,608 square feet during the first three months of 2019, which is a substantial increase over this time last year,” said Jason West, executive managing director at Cushman & Wakefield, who credits institutional-quality real estate, proximity to major interstates, competitive rental rates and a strong labor pool for attracting tenants.
“Overall vacancy dropped from 13.7 percent in Q1 of 2018 to 10.1 percent in Q1 2019, with tenants largely averaging under 100,000 square feet per transaction,” West said. “New leasing activity totaled over 1.8 million square feet, a 45.7 percent increase over this time last year. This pace and volume of transactions in this key Chicago submarket are very positive and we expect the trend to continue through 2019.”
West, Sean Henrick, Michael Magliano and Doug Pilcher recently facilitated ten transactions the I-55 Corridor. They represented both the tenant and landlord in three deals: Swap.com’s 132,123-square-foot lease from Prologis at 2501 Internationale Parkway in Woodridge, Lennox Industries’ 384,768-square-foot lease from landlord MetLife at 187 Southcreek Parkway in Romeoville and tenant Crown Corr’s 59,976-square-foot from Becknell Industrial at 1245 Lakeside Drive in Romeoville.
The team also represented Prologis in a 361,176-square-foot lease at 850 Veterans Parkway, Bolingbrook; Pepperidge Farm in a 87,602-square-foot lease at 15901 W. 147th Street, Lockport; Blackcreek Group in a 74,217-square-foot lease expansion at 771 Crossroads Parkway, Bolingbrook; Bristol Group in a 41,105-square-foot lease expansion at 11210 Katherine’s Crossing, Woodridge; Casey Products in a 72,142-square-foot lease renewal and expansion at 11230 Katherine’s Crossing, Woodridge; CHEP in a 178,923-square-foot lease renewal at 710 Theodore Court, Bolingbrook and LG Electronics USA in a 125,000-square-foot sublease at 1251 W. 115th Street, Bolingbrook.
