New construction in Chicago’s industrial market fell significantly during the first quarter of this year, according to a recent story from CommercialSearch.
CommercialSearch reported that the Chicago industrial market saw the start of 1.5 million square feet of new construction during the first quarter of this year.
That’s a big drop from the same quarter a year ago, when developers had started on the construction of 11.4 million square feet of new industrial construction in the Chicago market.
The vacancy rate in the Chicago industrial market increased, too, rising to 10.6% in the first quarter of 2025, according to the CommercialSearch report.
In better news, at least for the owners of industrial buildings, asking rents in the Chicago market rose 4.6% on a year-over-year basis, jumping to $6.36 a square foot as of the end of the first three months of this year.
The Chicago-area industrial market did see some large leasing deals during the first quarter. CommercialSearch pointed to Flextronics’ 335,000-square-foot lease in Libertyville, Illinois, and Uline’s continuing expansion into the southeast Wisconsin market.
And in even better news? CommercialSearch reported that industrial property sales in the Chicago market hit $616 million in the first quarter of 2025. This ranked as the third-highest sales volume nationally during the quarter.
