Developers Shift Focus to Smaller Industrial Buildings

HSA Commercial recently sold this 218K building at the Delany Commerce Center in Waukegan, IL. Developers and investors favor product this size due to the robust demand from users.

CHICAGO—The rise of e-commerce, and the subsequent supercharge given to the warehouse and distribution sector, has greatly increased Chicago’s importance as a core industrial market. But a surge in development over the past few years, especially of big box distribution centers, has brought about a few changes.

“That wave of activity has slowed down,” George Cutro, director of industrial research for JLL in Chicago, tells GlobeSt.com. Developers have decided to take a pause, at least for large buildings, and wait for tenants to fill up the empty spaces.