Computershare needed their new space relatively quickly, and Opus was willing to spend a little more to the speed up the project. The developer sourced the building's pre-cast concrete walls from a supplier farther out in the Midwest region, rather than wait the few extra months it would have taken if it bought from the usual suppliers closer to Chicago.

“We saw a great opportunity to get a very high-credit tenant and sign them to a ten-year deal,” Kurucz says. And institutional buyers from across the nation will pay up for properties that secure such companies, especially ones located in top Chicago-area submarkets such as I-55, I-88 and O'Hare.

The robust demand for space in the Chicago region, which has remained steady even after a record year, has Kurucz reevaluating its prospects. If asked one year ago when the market would likely hit its peak, he says “most folks would probably have said by the end of 2017.”

But now, with rents continuing to rise, and vacancy trending down even as the amount of new construction reaches a historic level, “the cycle seems likely to extend further than anyone thought,” perhaps well into 2018. Roughly half of that new construction has been for build-to-suits, which means local developers “are not overbuilding the way they were in 2007 and 2008.”

Still, Kurucz adds, the future remains uncertain. For example, although the new administration has not yet caused any disruption in the markets, “that's still a risk for everyone out there.”

CHICAGO—Officials from The Opus Group say they recently completed 1325 Remington, a 112,049-square-foot speculative warehouse and office building in suburban Bolingbrook. Additionally, Computershare, a global provider of financial and shareholder communication services, has signed a long-term lease agreement as the building's first tenant – leasing 44,357 square feet of the space.

The Minneapolis-based Opus has been remarkably active in the Chicago region. As reported in GlobeSt.com, it just unveiled plans to construct a 111,345-square-foot speculative industrial development at the company's Paragon Business Park in Romeoville, part of the I-55 submarket and just south of Bolingbrook. Opus already finished and sold two other speculative industrial developments at Paragon in 2016.

“In general, we are very bullish on the site in Bolingbrook,” Matt Kurucz, senior manager, real estate development, Opus Development Co., LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. “In part, that's because we've seen even more demand for space north of I-55 than south of it.” Many prospective tenants currently occupy buildings to the north, and if they make a move, most prefer to stay in their immediate area.

The building is the last remaining site within the Carlow Corporate Center and sits just a half mile north of the full interchange at I-55 and Weber Rd. It was completed in November 2016 and Computershare was fully operational in the space before the end of the year. Approximately 67,692 square feet of space remains available for lease with the ability to accommodate up to two tenants.

Computershare needed their new space relatively quickly, and Opus was willing to spend a little more to the speed up the project. The developer sourced the building's pre-cast concrete walls from a supplier farther out in the Midwest region, rather than wait the few extra months it would have taken if it bought from the usual suppliers closer to Chicago.

“We saw a great opportunity to get a very high-credit tenant and sign them to a ten-year deal,” Kurucz says. And institutional buyers from across the nation will pay up for properties that secure such companies, especially ones located in top Chicago-area submarkets such as I-55, I-88 and O'Hare.

The robust demand for space in the Chicago region, which has remained steady even after a record year, has Kurucz reevaluating its prospects. If asked one year ago when the market would likely hit its peak, he says “most folks would probably have said by the end of 2017.”

But now, with rents continuing to rise, and vacancy trending down even as the amount of new construction reaches a historic level, “the cycle seems likely to extend further than anyone thought,” perhaps well into 2018. Roughly half of that new construction has been for build-to-suits, which means local developers “are not overbuilding the way they were in 2007 and 2008.”

Still, Kurucz adds, the future remains uncertain. For example, although the new administration has not yet caused any disruption in the markets, “that's still a risk for everyone out there.”