CHICAGO—As reported in GlobeSt.com last week, CenterPoint Properties just signed a long-term lease agreement with Tax Air Freight for 55,251 square feet at 10700 Waveland Ave. in Franklin Park, bringing the facility in the O'Hare submarket to 100% occupancy. Built in 2009, it's the first time the building has been fully leased up.
The vacancy rate for industrial properties around the airport has now declined for 12 straight quarters and recently sank to just 5.35%, so what Ed Harrington, senior vice president, development for CenterPoint has to tell GlobeSt.com about this latest deal is not a surprise.
"We had three firms apply for this unit," he says, "and all wanted it immediately." And this level of demand for the space gave Centerpoint the luxury of choosing the firm they thought would be the best fit for the space. "We have had them as a tenant in our Milwaukee portfolio," and therefore, had a deep understanding of the company's needs.
For example, Tax Air Freight, which provides trucking services throughout the Midwest and nationwide logistics through its Flyer Logistics service, needs a large number of docks and stalls, and its portion of the Waveland facility has 23 dock positions, 27 trailer stalls and room for 14 truck-parking stalls, more than it would have at other O'Hare-area options.
Leasing throughout the submarket has been consistent. According to Colliers International, third quarter leasing volume totaled 990,000 square feet, and tenants took about 1.1 million square feet in the previous quarter. In last year's third quarter, 1.2 million square feet of leases were transacted.
According to CompStak.com, SDV USA signed a long-term lease for 54,194 square feet at the Waveland facility in 2012, and earlier this year, Chicago Records Management signed a long-term lease for 32,893 square feet.
The robust leasing activity has boosted CenterPoint's confidence in the submarket's future. The company has fourteen acres next door, says Harrington. "We are marketing the site to companies around O'Hare for a build-to-suit opportunity."
Tom Rodeno of Colliers represented Tax Air Freight in the transaction, and Jim Estus, also of Colliers, represented CenterPoint.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
