HODGKINS, ILL. — LaGrange Crane Inc., a crane rental services company, has signed a 138,994-square-foot industrial lease renewal and expansion at 6800 Santa Fe Drive in Hodgkins, an industrial suburb of Chicago. The tenant currently occupies 74,766 square feet. Ryan Mullins and Nick Krejci of Core Industrial Realty represented the tenant. The landlord was undisclosed.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — The U.S. Department of Commerce, which works with businesses and universities to promote job creation and economic growth, has agreed to a preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) with semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix for its new $3.9 billion manufacturing plant in Indiana. The manufacturer, part of South Korean-based SK Group, announced in April that its advanced packaging and research-and-development (R&D) facility was coming to Purdue Research Park, an office and industrial research park adjacent to the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette. The PMT includes $450 million in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act and an additional loan of up to $500 million. The funding will contribute to SK hynix’s production of high-bandwidth-memory (HBM) semiconductors (or computer chips) for AI supply chain security technology in the United States. These new-generation HBM chips will be mass-produced and packaged onsite and will have more processing power than SK hynix’s current chips, which process 1.18 terabytes of data per second. “We are excited about the Department of Commerce’s support, through the CHIPS and Science Act, of the largest semiconductor production facility located at a university in the United States,” says Mung Chiang, president of Purdue University. “This …
HOUSTON — Cresa has brokered the sale of a 14.8-acre industrial development site in northwest Houston. The site is located on Becker Road near Waller-Tomball Road. Brandon Wuntch and Drew Altmann of Cresa represented the buyer, an entity doing business as Zermeno GTB LP, in the transaction. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The buyer tentatively expects to deliver an industrial facility on the site in 2025.
DALLAS — DFA Dairy Brands Fluid, a supplier of fresh milk, has signed a 26,203-square-foot industrial lease in the Owenwood area of Dallas. Holt Lunsford Commercial Investments owns the building at 5200 E. Grand Ave. Canon Shoults, Josh Barnes and Mitch Cantwell of Holt Lunsford’s brokerage division represented the landlord in the lease negotiations. The tenant was self-represented.
WORCESTER, MASS. — Eastern Union has arranged a $13.3 million construction loan for a 931-unit self-storage facility that will be located in the central Massachusetts city of Worcester. The four-story facility will consist of 93,186 net rentable square feet of climate- and non-climate-controlled space across units with an average size of 100 square feet. Marc Tropp of Eastern Union arranged the loan, which was structured with a 36-month term, 65 percent loan-to-value ratio and an interest rate that is equivalent to 300 basis points over SOFR over the construction and lease-up period. CubeSmart will operate the facility. The lender was an undisclosed local bank, and the borrower was also not disclosed.
TUCSON, ARIZ. — Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR has arranged the sale of Rita Ranch Commercial Center, Lots 57, 58 and 59, totaling 15 acres of industrial land in Tucson. Ron Zimmerman, Jesse Blum and Paul Hooker of Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR represented the seller, while Sam Rutledge of Commercial Properties represented the buyer in the transaction.
AURORA, ILL. — Green Bay Packaging Inc. has signed a 74,000-square-foot industrial lease at 2200 Sullivan Road in Aurora. Noel Liston and Nick Krejci of Core Industrial Realty represented the landlord, Panattoni Development, which developed the 356,000-square-foot building. Now occupied by two tenants, the facility has one remaining available space of 96,150 square feet. The property features a clear height of 36 feet, six exterior docks, one grade-level door and office spaces. Mike Plumb of Lee & Associates represented Green Bay Packaging.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Alterra IOS, an industrial outdoor storage (IOS) company, has acquired two IOS properties totaling 22.3 acres in Columbus for an undisclosed price. The sites include 4080 Business Park Drive and 2222 New World Drive. Both are located minutes from downtown, offering tenants convenient access to major interstates, national rail networks and international airports. The property at 4080 Business Park Drive totals more than eight acres and features 20,120 square feet of accompanying warehouse space. A full-service trailer leasing provider entered into a long-term lease agreement at closing. Ascension Advisory negotiated the sale. The facility at 2222 New World Drive includes 14 acres with 50,238 square feet of accompanying warehouse space. JLL brokered the sale. Alterra now owns six sites in the Columbus area.
WARREN, OHIO — U-Haul has repurposed a 7.8-acre retail lot formerly home to a Chase bank and Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Warren, about 50 miles southeast of Cleveland. U-Haul Moving & Storage of Warren North, located at 3394 Elm Road NE, is currently serving customers out of a temporary retail showroom and is scheduled to complete renovations by summer 2025. Services immediately available include moving truck rentals, trailers, towing devices, boxes and moving supplies. Plans call for the addition of 1,000 indoor climate-controlled self-storage units with high-tech security features. The 69,000-square-foot complex will host a warehouse space that can store up to 500 U-Box portable moving and storage containers. Once renovations are finished, the store will also offer services such as professional hitch installation and propane.
In the Tampa Bay area, industrial activity remains strong to this point in 2024. According to market research from Colliers, the industrial market closed the first quarter of the year with a vacancy rate below 6 percent. From 2019 to 2022, leasing activity increased, with some fluctuations between quarters. Meanwhile, 2023 saw more than 12.2 million square feet of renewals, expansions and new leases in the greater Tampa Bay area. The data backs up what we are seeing as brokers – a high-demand market with positive net absorption. With that, there are also several trends that have emerged in 2024. 1.) A generally competitive but well-balanced market. While the Tampa Bay industrial market is competitive, it’s overall well-balanced — favoring neither the landlord nor tenant in its current state (of course, dependent on size and submarket). This balance can be attributed to a slowdown in new construction, high occupancy rates, rising rental rates and continued strong demand. However, rates are not rising as quickly as they have been in the past few years, and tenants are selective about space and want to see several options and thoroughly survey the market before executing a deal. There are also pockets of the …