Kate Coxworth, Managing Director in JLL's Chicago industrial brokerage office, shares her career journey and market insights.

Sean Reynolds, Managing Director for High Density Use Space Properties at JLL, returns for the third time to discuss findings from the Midyear 2024 Data Center Report.

Local experts from JLL's Industrial Research Committee discuss market trends observed halfway through 2024.

Chicago - George Cutro (0:58 - 4:04)

National Perspective - Mehtab Randhawa (4:19 - 6:37)

New Jersey - Alex Kachris (6:46 - 10:37)

Baltimore - Ben Caffey (10:45 - 19:17)

Atlanta - Harriet Westlake (19:27 - 25:28)

Indianapolis - Mike Cagna (25:39 - 30:34)

Dallas/Fort Worth - Nick Thomas (30:43 - 36:33)

Southern California - David Fan (36:40 - 40:12)

Canada - Chad Piche (40:22 - 45:09)

Sean Reynolds of JLL's Chicago Data Center Practice Group returns to the podcast to talk about the data center real estate environment as the year comes to a close. Topics include power requirements and power sources, infill markets, demand for data centers, transaction velocity in today's real estate environment, construction time and cost.

Episode 52 features Andrew Volz, JLL America's research lead for Project and Development Services (PDS). In this episode, we discuss the findings of the 2023 US and Canada Construction Outlook report.

The construction pipeline remains robust and year-over-year construction costs remain up despite a drop in pricing for select materials. While declining buildings starts will relieve some price pressures, infrastructure projects and international demand for select materials are likely to offset relief, leading to more moderate growth rates for prices rather than a net drop.

Industrial occupiers have been faced with a persistent shortage of skilled labor - a driving factor in wage increases in the construction sector. After Andrew sets the stage with the state of the industry, George and Chad dive into the key considerations with industrial construction including concrete supply, roofing materials and the electrification of buildings.

While speculative industrial construction may taper off in 2023 and 2024, large-scale advanced manufacturing projects and investments in the energy sector could keep construction crews busy for years to come.

Episode 51 features Justin Fierz, Founding Principal of Midwest Industrial Funds along with Sam Durkin and Steve Trapp to discuss the Palatine Corporate Center

Topics Include

JLL's involvement with the site started back in 2019 with disposition of the former Weber Grill Manufacturing Campus.

Sam and Steve were also involved with another disposition across the street which was redeveloped as a last mile delivery station.

Palatine is not typically thought of as an industrial destination, but has a some large corporate occupiers and key parcel distribution hubs.

Midwest Industrial Funds was able to secure approvals and close on the 25 acre site during the midst of the Covid lockdowns in 2020.

A two-building plan of 275,388 s.f. and 150,042 s.f. was laid out to appeal to a wide range of potential tenants.

S&C Electric, was founded in 1909 and is a Chicago-based manufacturer specializing in the switching, protection, and control of electric power systems.

S&C will maintain their large manufacturing plant in Rogers Park and the expansion creates approximately 200 production and engineering jobs.

The 150 Sellstrom Drive Building has 153,042 s.f. available and is move-in ready with warehouse washrooms and lighting installed.

Episode 50 features a previous guest, Josh Grozdin partner relations manager with the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center.

IMEC has a team of experts with previous careers across various manufacturing sectors that can help with data, whitepapers, and hands on training. The organziation offers services for small manufacturers such as helping to improve process workflow via systematic plant layouts to achieve lean manufacturing inititatives and ISO Certification. In addition, IMEC is also accepting applications for the Cook County Manufacturing Reinvented grant program.

Tune in to hear about how IMEC can be a resource for all Illinois manufacturing operations and how to take advantage of their services and expertise.

To hear other episodes with Josh, check out episodes 26 and 43

Sean Reynolds of JLL's Chicago Data Center Practice Group joins the podcast to discuss trends and activity in the data center real estate world. Topics include:

Chicago as a key data center market due to its history as a railroad hub.

Hyperscalers are helping to push for sustainability through wind energy development.

In 2021 The State of Illinois passed an important bill with tax incentives for the data center industry.

Data centers contribute significantly to municipal finances through electricity sales tax generation.

Elk Grove Village is a "main and main" location for data centers due to power and fiber access.

Power supply issues on the east and west coasts are crimping new supply.

Supply chain delays are leading to longer lead times on procuring equipment.

Episode 48 is live from the new home of Lion Electric Vehicles at Clarius Park Joliet. We are joined by Michael Connor from JLL and Clarius Partners' Eric Johnson to hear about JLL's involvement with Building I and the development and leasing of the 906,517 sq. ft. manufacturing facility.

This location will become Lion Electric's first manufacturing facility in the US and a showcase for consumers. Lion Electric was attracted to Joliet for its robust logistics industry, labor force and the Illinois Climate Change Policy which aligns well with the electric vehicle market.

When the project started, the team knew it would have a big economic impact due to the amount of power and parking needed to support the plant. There was a tremendous amount of effort to take a speculative shell building and adapt it for producing zero emission vehicles.

Hear how the team pivoted in the middle of construction to add in over 100,000 square feet of office space, cranes, paint booths and reconfigured loading docks in our latest episode.

Episode 47 is live from ATMI Precast in Aurora, IL. We are joined by Mike Walsh, VP of Business Development to learn about the process of making precast and see their finished product. Hear more about the facility, their capabilities and trends in industrial construction.

Show Notes

ATMI produces precast for industrial buildings, data centers, parking structures, and more.

Hear about the how raw steel and rebar is custom fabricated to customer specifications.

The facility is on 22 acres and consists of two production buildings, two concrete batch plants and yard space to store product awaiting delivery.

Waubonsee Development is their sister-company that handles the erection on the jobsite.

ATMI serves the Midwest region from both Aurora and their newly expanded Indianapolis plants.

Discussion of building features for cold storage projects.

Will "tilt-up" construction become a new trend in the Chicago market?