ELGIN—The cluster of industrial buildings around I-90 in Elginhad a slow first quarter, but a big new lease could help turnthings around in the second. The medical device makerMedela, Inc. had more business than it couldhandle from its headquarters in McHenry County, and just signed anew lease for 154,523-square-feet of warehouse and distributionspace at 2768 Spectrum Dr. in this northwest suburbansubmarket.

The deal is a significant one for the relatively small Elginsubmarket. In the first quarter, the biggest lease was byHubbell Lighting, which signed for48,187-square-feet at 1215 Bowes Rd. in Elgin. Weak demand byoccupiers led to mere 56,900-square-feet of leasing volume, and netabsorption of negative 230,100-square-feet, according toColliers. This followed a healthy fourth quarter,which saw 208,400-square-feet of leasing volume and245,200-square-feet of positive absorption.

As reported in Globe St.com, recently the submarket had put upsolid numbers, enough to attract investors and developers, including thoseconfident enough to build speculative properties. Earlier thisyear, for example, Conor Commercial Real Estate and Globe Corp. finished NorthwestPointe, a 342,620-square-foot spec building in Elgin.And the real estate investment firm Bridge DevelopmentPartners, LLC, recently sold the 319,043-square-foot industrial building at2700 Alft Lane at Randall Crossings Business Parkto Boston-based TA Associates for $20.2million.