The owner of a Whirlpool distribution center in Joliet recently sold the property, claiming the biggest sale of a Chicagoland industrial building this year.
According to Crain’s, Nuveen has sold the one-million-square-foot warehouse at 3851 Youngs Road for a hefty $104.4 million to a Bank of America venture. The price represents a nearly 50% jump from the $71.5 million that Nuveen paid for the building in 2018.
Industrial was strong in 2018, but nothing compared to today’s numbers, due to a booming logistics market and the steady rise of e-commerce. Warehouse values have increased as the local vacancy rate has dropped to a record low — 4.58% in Q2, based on research by Colliers International — rents have risen, and businesses continue to invest in the market.
The price for 3851 Youngs Road is the most paid for a single industrial building in Chicagoland thus far in 2022, which Crain’s said surpasses the $102.5 million sale a few months ago in Channahon by Denver-based Ares Industrial Real Estate Income Trust.
Whirlpool moved into the space in 2015, but it is unknown when the company’s lease expires.
Though the market’s momentum has experienced a bit of a slowdown the last several months amid rising inflation and interest rates and supply chain issues, U.S. market values have increased 39% since the onset of COVID-19.