Chicago Industrial Set for Continued Growth

CHICAGO—In 2015, the Chicago industrial market had over 10 million square feet of space positively absorbed, with nearly four million square feet in the fourth quarter alone, Transwestern reports in its latest outlook report. The industrial leasing market has now had 18 straight quarters of positive absorption, but the last quarter marked the highest activity since the end of 2013. And with Illinois manufacturing at an all-time low, it is the growth of e-commerce that is providing the fuel.

“Chicago is now the distriburtion center of the country,” Sandy McDonald, director of market research for Transwestern’s Chicago and Midwest regions, tells GlobeSt.com. No metro area can match the region’s concentration of railroads, highways and airports, and as customer demand for home delivery grows, corporations should keep expanding here. “Nobody wants to wait five days for a package anymore; they want it now, so everybody needs to be in the middle of the country, and that means everybody needs to be in Chicago.”