Big Box Industrials See Historic 2Q Leasing

CHICAGO—The Chicago’s industrial market really hit its stride in the first quarter, and the next three months saw leasing accelerate, reaching a historic level of activity and filling up all of the region’s large vacancies, according to a new report by Colliers International.

The vacancy rate among the big box facilities fell from 9.97% in the first quarter to just 9.31%, a decline of 66 bps. And the market recorded about 4.9 million square feet of net absorption, a significant jump over the roughly 1.8 million square feet in the first quarter. And “at 5.2 million square feet leased, the second quarter volume posted the largest level recorded in our tracking period, (which started in 2011),” according to the firm.