The Chicago industrial market is insanely hot right now

Like seemingly everywhere else, the industrial market is surging in Chicago.

New industrial market leasing activity in the Chicago area in the first quarter totaled 7.2 million square feet, an increase of 38.1 percent over the same period in 2017, according to a new Cushman & Wakefield report.

“After a downtempo 2017, 2018 is off to an accelerated start and anticipated to gain further momentum as the year progresses,” said the report, first published in RE Journals.

Bolstering the optimism was a 15.1 percent growth in ecommerce sales nationwide year over year, upping demand for industrial property.

The report said construction starts slowed by the end of 2017, with developers holding off on new projects until demand caught up. Some 7.5 million square feet of new construction was underway in the first quarter of 2018, most of it on spec, compared with 16.7 million a year earlier.

Six new leases of more than 300,000 square feet were signed in the first quarter, led by a 600,000-square-foot lease by Kenco Logistics in far south suburban Monee, the same town where Amazon opened an 850,000-square-foot fulfillment center in August.

“With market activity off to a fast start, 2018 is expected to continue to outperform a slow 2017, giving confidence that the Chicago market is far from cooling off,” the report said. “It is likely that the increased leasing activity will motivate developers to break ground on delayed proposed projects.” [RE Journals] — John O’Brien