CHICAGO—The I-55 industrial market has gotten quite congested, and developers have started to push out into adjacent areas. And so far, it looks like the demand is there. Panattoni Development Co., for example, has just scored another tenant for its 355 Corporate Center, a speculative development in suburban Lockport. Illinois Industrial Tool, a distributor of value-priced hardware and tools, has signed a 166,092-square-foot lease at the project's second building. With this lease, only 62,598 square feet remains available at the recently-completed building, and Panattoni has announced its intention to develop a third spec building on the site.

“There's an ideal combination of factors in the I-355 corridor right now — there's steady and considerable absorption, but it's a land-constrained submarket,” Jason Rosenberg of Panattoni tells GlobeSt.com. “Space is getting absorbed as it's being developed — ideal balance of supply and demand. Every spec building in both of the major parks in Lockport has been absorbed shortly after completion, and with a measured pipeline of supply, we expect that trend to continue with Phase II of our project.”

Mark Barbato and Adam Stokes of Nicolson, Porter & List represented Panattoni in the transaction and Walter Murphy of Lee & Associates represented Illinois Industrial Tool.