Industrial speculative construction has remained a hot topic over the last few years. Many wonder if the Chicago market is in danger of becoming overbuilt, and if market fundamentals remain healthy enough to continue the current growth cycle. Our team took a look at the data to determine if the statistics can give insight to developers as they project a “lease-up” schedule – eliminating wonder about the old adage “if we build it, they will come.” Here’s what we found:

• Of the 42.6 million square feet of industrial speculative development built in the Chicago metro area between 2013 – 2017, only 7.6 percent, or 3.2 million square feet remains vacant.

• Nearly a quarter of all newly completed space since 2015 was leased in the first 90 days, and more than half of all speculative space built between 2014 and 2018 was leased within the first year.

• A total of 23.6 million square feet was completed in 2018 and YTD 2019, and roughly half of that space is occupied, including over 31 percent of buildings completed between April and October of this year.

We invite you to click the image above to download our complete REmark by clicking on the image above. For more information contact NAI Hiffman’s Director of Research, Amanda Ortiz at 630 693 0645 or aortiz@hiffman.com.