Investors Swoop Into Lake County Amid Record Leasing
Industrial tenants took a record amount of space in Lake County during the second quarter, and investors are taking notice.
AEW, a global real estate investment adviser, bought from Bridge Development Partners three new industrial distribution buildings at Bridge Point North Business Park, Phase 2 of the master-planned campus in Waukegan, Illinois. The price was not disclosed.
The buildings total 927K SF, and were 68% leased to two tenants at the time of sale, but given existing demand, further leasing deals seem likely.
Users in Lake County signed for 1.4M SF in the second quarter, leading to 1.2M SF of net absorption, and dropping the vacancy rate 77 basis points to 6.89%, according to a Colliers International report.
"The second quarter of 2019 demonstrated that there is plenty of demand for modern speculative development in Lake County," the firm said. "While this type of product hasn't been built at as rapid of a pace as other submarkets due to land constraints, the record new leasing activity recorded during the quarter suggests that additional absorption will occur during the second half of 2019."
Bridge acquired the campus in 2015, and with the help of a Tax Increment Financing district from the city of Waukegan, the development included infrastructure improvements costing more than $30M.
Bolke-Miller Co. recently signed a long-term lease for 402K SF in the park's 544K SF Building III, and Thermoflex signed a long-term lease for the 228K SF Building V.
CBRE's Michael Caprile, Zach Graham and Ryan Bain represented Bridge in the sale.
