Without a couple of big deals in the city of St. Louis, space absorption in the region’s industrial market would have been miniscule during the first quarter of 2009.

Colliers Turley Martin Tucker reports that Villa Lighting’s new headquarters on Chouteau Avenue and Universal Storage’s lease at the North Broadway Distribution Center accounted for much of the area’s absorption of 306,000 square feet of industrial space in the quarter.

Brauer Supply backfilled Villa’s former location in north St. Louis, Colliers added.

St. Louis County experienced negative absorption overall but the mid-county area gained with CellNet expanding at the Page Business Center and a portion of Hanley Industrial Court filling its remaining available space. St. Charles County recorded quarterly absorption of 78,000 square feet.

But the impact of Chrysler’s cutbacks in Fenton is continuing to drag down the industrial market. Colliers says Findlay Industries vacated space in Chesterfield. Lear Seating gave up space in Earth City while TRW pulled out of some space in Fenton. Other Chrysler suppliers leaving Fenton contributed to a quarterly loss of 171,000 square feet of occupied space in that submarket.