News
Industrial Revolution
February 8, 2011
| As the recession eases and big companies make real estate decisions again, business in the industrial submarkets is picking up, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's Chicago industrial team. | |
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| If this is an industrial revolution, then you're looking at a modern day James Watt, Eli Whitney, Jethro Tull, and, well, you get the picture. The team's 150% revenue increase in 2010 says it all. At their O'Hare office, JLL's Frank Griffin, Dan McGillicuddy, Kelly Gray,Trevor Ragsdale, Keith Stauber, and Dominic Carbonari tell us they worked on five of the top 10 leases of last year: Navistar's 860k SF, BP Products' 575k SF, Jacobson Cos' 507k SF, Just in Time Packaging's 305k SF, and Cloverhill Bakery's 292k SF. Overall vacancy is down to 12%, leaving just a handful of large spaces available in the premium submarkets like I-88 and I-55, Trevor says. | |
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| While things are looking up, spec development isn't on the way just yet, Keith says. The cost of construction hasn't gone down as quickly as rents did, so big corporations looking for space will try tofill existing vacancy first. The merger of ProLogis and AMB could afford leasing brokers new opportunities as they evaluate their space. JLL is also expanding its industrial investment sales and property management platforms to capitalize on tenant decision-making in a relatively low-rent marketplace. | |
