Resource Plastics, a plastics recycler, has leased 85,000 sf at 3301 Wireton Rd. from Vision Properties Blue Island LLC. Meanwhile, plastics molding company National Focus leased 13,680 sf of warehouse space at 7401 S. Pulaski Rd., a building owned by Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust Inc., on the city's Southwest Side.

NAI Hiffman senior associate Stephen J. Connolly represented the tenants in both deals. Paine Wetzel Associates Inc./ONCOR International principal Edward C. Wabick represented Vision Properties Blue Island while Cushman & Wakefield of Illinois Inc. associate Michael C. Nelson handled negotiations for First Industrial Realty Trust.

Vacancy in the 139-million-sf South Side market was 9.2% to begin the second quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield of Illinois' most recent market report. The submarket has seen 1.3 million sf of negative absorption so far this year, the brokerage firm notes. In the 81.5-million-sf south suburban submarket, vacancy stood at 11.5%, with more than 1.6 million sf of negative absorption this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

While lease terms were not disclosed, warehouse space is renting for an average of $3.23 per sf on the South Side, according to Cushman & Wakefield, while manufacturing space in the south suburbs is averaging $3.14 per sf.