CHICAGO—Duke Realtyhas just signed three leases at several of its buildings along the I-55 corridor southwest of Chicago, one of the most active markets in the region. The transactions, which total 496,183 square feet, include an expansion by RTC, Inc. and a new lease with APL Warehouse Logistics Management, Inc. in Duke's Crossroads Business Park in suburban Bolingbrook, and a new lease with Midwest Air Technologies, Inc. at a 324,115 square-foot speculative warehouse in Romeoville that the nationwide REIT delivered in May.
“It's the market that has seen the most spec space and there is a reason for that,” Ryan O'Leary, senior vice president of Duke's Chicago operations, tells GlobeSt.com. “The demand is at least keeping up with the new supply.” In fact, “developers have actually been fairly conservative,” and O'Leary feels bullish about the prospects for even more industrial building in the near future.
The vacancy rate among industrial properties in the I-55 Corridor submarket has been hovering around 10% even with new space hitting the market, according to a recent report from Colliers International. No developments were started in the first quarter, but Colliers said that developers had six speculative and two build-to-suit projects underway that will eventually add 1.5 million square feet to the submarket's inventory.
As reported in GlobeSt.com, PCCP, LLC has just formed a joint venture with Panattoni Development Co. Inc. and acquired a 51-acre land parcel in suburban Lockport, another town in the I-55 corridor. The partners plan to develop Lockport 355, a four-building industrial park totaling 846,510 square feet.
RTC, a designer of retail marketing displays, expanded into 97,920 square feet of space at 335 Crossroads Parkway in Crossroads Business Park. Concurrently, RTC extended its original 190,080 square-foot lease in the building and now occupies 100% of the 288,000 square-foot building. Also in the Crossroads park, APL Warehouse Logistics Management, a 3PL, signed a new lease for the entire 145,000 square-foot building at 515 Crossroads Parkway.
Midwest Air Technologies, Inc., a global manufacturing, marketing and distribution company for the hardware, fencing, automotive and power equipment industries, signed a lease for 253,263 square feet in 1341 Enterprise Dr., or 78% of Duke's new building, which the company constructed on a site it purchased in early 2014.
“There is really good activity and demand in the size range that we have left in the building,” O'Leary adds. Duke has not made any decisions on launching new developments in the immediate area, “but we believe in this market.”
Bill Frain with CBRE represented RTC in its space expansion and lease extension, while Duke was represented by Susan Bergdoll, vice president of leasing, and listing agent Jeff Kapcheck with Colliers International. Larry Johnson with CBRE represented APL in its new lease with listing agent Rick Daly with Darwin Realty and Development and Bergdoll representing Duke. In its new lease, Midwest Air Technologies was represented by Amanda Jennings and C.J. Kuehl with REologie Commercial Real Estate Advisors and Duke was represented by Bergdoll and listing agents Trevor Ragsdale and Michael Connor with JLL.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
