CHICAGO—Industrial demand in the Chicagoland region has been quite strong so far this year, and many think the market can absorb even more space. Bridge Development Partners, LLC, for example, has just signed leases with four tenants totaling more than 246,000 square feet in two industrial buildings delivered in July 2015.

“We absolutely do think it continues to be a strong market to launch speculative products,” Steve Groetsema, principal at Chicago-based Bridge, tells GlobeSt.com. “Not just because of the micro view of the leasing activity that we have seen alone, but because the market really has not been overbuilt whatsoever when you compare how much has been delivered to historical absorption over the last decade or so.”

All American Containers of the Midwest signed a long term lease for 51,624 square feet at Bridge Point 94 Building I, located at 851-899 E. Park Ave. in north suburban Libertyville. This lease brings Bridge Point 94 I to 49% occupancy. A subsidiary of Miami-based All American Containers, one of the largest suppliers of rigid packaging in North America, the company is expanding from their current location in Lake Forest. All American was represented by Keith Puritz of Avison Young, as well as Rob Wheeler, Juan Rodriguez and Sky Groden of Cresa. Bridge was represented by John Hauser, Michael Fonda and Hugh Williams of Avison Young.

In addition, Bridge has signed three leases totaling 194,000 square feet at its Bridge Point McCook II, located at 8401 W. 47th St. in McCook, bringing the building to 86% occupancy. In all three transactions, Bridge was represented by Vern Schultz of Colliers International.

DHL Express (USA), Inc., part of the postal and logistics company, Deutsche Post DHL Group, took 36,440 square feet in the McCook building. DHL was represented by Mark Baumhart and Jeanne Rogers of Arthur J. Rogers & Co.

Video Equipment Rentals LLC, a Glendale, CA-based AV, audio, broadcast and computer equipment rental company which operates more than 20 offices across the US, will significantly expand its Chicago unit, currently based in Franklin Park, by moving into 94,152 square feet in McCook. The company was represented by Sam Durkin of JLL.

Lastly, an international tire manufacturer signed a lease for 64,057 square feet.

“The Chicago industrial metro area's availability rate continued to decline and ended the quarter at 6.6%, down 10 bps from last quarter,” CBRE found in a report on the first three months of the year. “This is also 510 bps lower than the peak recorded during the first half of 2010.”

“We are really proud of the strong leasing activity that we had to kick off our 2016,” says Groetsema. “We were optimistic about these projects, but you can never expect the term and credit of the tenant roster that we saw; that is directly attributable to the strong work of all of the brokers involved in these deals.”

Lastly, an international tire manufacturer signed a lease for 64,057 square feet.

Instant Insights /

Bridge Development Filling Up New Specs

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