ROSEMONT, IL—Industrial real estate fundamentals in the GreaterChicago market – and nationwide – have continued to see notableimprovement during the past 18 months. As a result, commercial realestate professionals have begun enjoying the return of tractionwhen it comes to making deals. Cushman & Wakefield'sBritt Casey, executive director, and his team, forexample, say they have completed more than 60 industrial leasingand sale transactions totaling about 4.8-million-square-feet andvalued at more than $99 million during that time. This made Caseyone of the firm's top 20 industrial advisors nationwide. He spokewith GlobeSt.com on current regional conditions and what the futureholds.

What are the current industrial fundamentals in theChicago market?
By mid-year, the vacancy rate in the Chicago industrial marketdropped to 7.0%, which represents the lowest rate recorded sincethe third quarter of 2001, when the vacancy rate measured 5.6%, andis just below the current national average of 7.2%. Weightedaverage direct net rental rates have now risen to pre-recessionfigures and ended the second quarter at $4.53 per square foot,which is 6.1% higher than at the same time last year.

Leasing activity, which was particularly robust in 2013, hasslowed somewhat year over year. Still, our 16-million-square-feetin transactions represented the third highest volume in the nation,after California's Greater Los Angeles and Inland Empire markets,and we are seeing plenty of users with space requirements of allsizes active in our region. Significant 2014 commitments includedFerrara Candy Company for 747,000-square-feet,Midwest Warehouse & Distribution for650,000-square-feet and DHL Global Forwarding for491,000-square-feet.