CHICAGO—As reported in GlobeSt.com, the Opus Group has launched the development of two speculative industrial buildings in suburban Romeoville, one with 133,800-square-feet and the other with 121,200-square-feet. And Matt Kurucz, real estate manager for Opus Development Company, LLC, tells GlobeSt.com that the state of the I-55 submarket made the decision to build easy.

“There really are no other standalone buildings available in that size range,” he says. Molto Properties did recently start an 189,700-square-foot spec project, also in Romeoville, but “I've heard that's already leased. It might not be signed yet, but I heard it's spoken for.” Other recently completed spec projects in the neighborhood include IDI's mammoth bulk warehouse/distribution building at 700 S. Weber Rd. in Bolingbrook, but at 602,600-square-feet it will probably appeal to a different set of users.

Kurucz says that institutional investors pretty much have the I-55 submarket locked up and “there is nowhere for small businesses to purchase their own facilities.” Opus officials could have used the 22-acre Romeoville site, purchased from First American Properties, to maximize the square-footage of this project, but instead decided on two smaller facilities with separate truck courts that would appeal to user-buyers. However, he adds, they would also be more than happy to lease these buildings once they finish them next year, or sell both to a big buyer like a pension fund.

The Romeoville spec project makes up just a small portion of Opus' development pipeline. The company has about $500 million worth of projects underway across the nation. And locally, its active industrial spec projects span the metropolitan area. It just completed a 604,565-square-foot speculative industrial building in North Aurora near the I-88 expressway for San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Co. Other submarkets where it has sites for spec developments under contract include Chicago, Central DuPage, Lake County and North Cook County.

Kurucz adds that the company expects to break ground on these buildings “in the spring as soon as the weather allows.” Opus will finish between four and seven such projects in the short-term with as much as two million square-feet, including the North Aurora development. “That would certainly bring us back to pre-recession levels. It's definitely a healthy year for a developer to go spec.”