This summer, industrial builders in the Chicagoland region broke records for brand-new building, outpacing the already rapid pace of 2021.
The majority of the structures under construction are sleek, contemporary warehouses for storing and distributing products, satisfying the need for ever-quicker delivery from online customers.
The phrase "industrial" still conjures up images of smokestacks in people's minds, but this is virtually always warehouse and distribution space,
according to Craig Hurvitz, vice president of market research at Colliers International.
The economy's turbulence and rising interest rates had little impact on the pace of metro area groundbreakings.
According to Colliers, builders started on 48 structures in the third quarter that would eventually comprise 17.2 million square feet, a 32% increase over the previous record.