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Big-Box Industrial Leasing Reaches Highest Annual Total
For all that last-mile delivery is spurring leasing and development of smaller infill properties, big-box remains a force to be reckoned with in Chicago-area industrial. Colliers International’s Craig Hurvitz reported that last year’s leasing tally of 16.4 million square feet at properties larger than 200,000 square feet was the highest of the current cycle.
That robust leasing understandably led to increased development. Sixteen of the 23 big-box projects completed in 2018 were speculative and are now 10% leased.
Accordingly, big-box vacancies ticked upward by five basis points in the fourth quarter, after falling significantly in the year’s first half. The increase was due partly to new construction that hadn’t leased yet, and partly to some sizable new vacancies, such as Toys “R’ Us vacating its 637,614-square-foot Joliet facility.
The year’s largest big-box lease also occurred in Joliet: Whirlpool’s 1,001,184-square-foot renewal and expansion at 3851 Youngs Rd. in Q1.
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