OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL-After three years of anemic retail construction activity, development will increase in 2012, according to a new report from Mid-America Real Estate Corp.

“We do expect a moderate increase in retail deliveries next year, as deliveries bottom this year at about 634,000 square feet,” says Andy Bulson, author of the Mid-America 2010-11 Shopping Center Report. “Most of the deliveries will be Wal-Mart stores. With their various sizes and formats, they are making a big push into the City.”

Bulson tells GlobeSt.com the increase will be driven by projects within the city of Chicago or in densely populated collar communities rather than suburban locales, where development has slowed markedly. "Currently, with the usual exception of Wal-Mart, there are nearly no new shopping center projects planned for development in suburban Chicago for 2011," he says.