Although the food & beverage industry significantly expanded its share of the largest 100 U.S. industrial & logistics leases by square footage last year, Chicago’s entries in that roster bucked the trend. CBRE says the metro area’s top performers for leases of greater than 500,000 square feet were transportation and logistics, manufacturing and retail.

“E-commerce firms and traditional retailers remain active in the Chicago distribution market,” said Traci Buckingham Payette, EVP with CBRE. “As consumer habits continue to change, we are seeing more firms look for infill locations for their distribution network, even for larger warehouses.”

Totaling 4.2 million square feet, the five largest Chicago-area industrial leases put the Chicago region at No. 7 among the top 10 markets, behind California’s Inland Empire, Pennsylvania’s I-78/I-81 corridor, Memphis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Nationally, 50 of the 100 leases were for warehouses sized 800,000 square feet or more, according to CBRE.

Pictured: 1000 Bilter Rd. in Aurora, IL, which saw one of the Chicago area’s largest industrial leases in 2019.

Connect Industrial Midwest is coming to Rosemont, IL on March 4. For more information, or to register, click here.

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