The business park is expected to employ about 2,000 skilled workers at the site east of Illinois Route 53, next to ChicagoLand Speedway and one mile south of Interstate 80, by the time it is completed in seven to 10 years. That superhighway hooks up with Interstates 55 and 57, which provide access to Chicago. Ryan, which owns and manages 5 million sf, was attracted by the site's location.
"Chicago possesses one of the nation's largest concentrations of rail, interstate highway and air transportation with an inventory of industrial product close to 1 billion sf," said Pete Harmon, Ryan's vice president of office and industrial development. "A majority of this is obsolete by today's standards."
To meet the demand for state-of-the-art industrial product, Ryan is building high-capacity electrical and data systems into their Laraway Crossings facilties, which will be able to support third-party logistics companies, such as those that fulfill e-commerce orders. "They're on the cutting edge with in-time deliver," Harmon said. "The level of automation and sophistication is phenomonal."
Loading docks will have at least 30 feet of clearance. The parking area will be large enough and designed to accommodate trailer storage as well as both car and truck traffic.
"It could be worth $250 million over the next 10 years, or whatever the build-out may be," Harmon said. "But that's in today's dollars."
The southern boundary of the site is Laraway Road, which provides an entrance to the new auto race track, and the eastern boundary is Rowell Road. A subdivision lies to the north.
Ryan "went the extra mile" in addressing residents' concerns, says city planner Jan Vitali. Asking for no public money for infrastructure, the firm agreed to provide a 100-foot landscaping buffer between homes and the business park. Ryan, which agreed to widen Laraway Road from three lanes to five, also will ring the business park on the southern edge of the city with a walkway.<p"It's an area that has been residential but the roadway was already in place," Vitali said. "I think the residents realized it'll probably increase the value of their property."
The site, previously owned by two local families and that once contained a private airport, is not in an industrial area, Harmon said, which factored into the firm's decision to pay infrastructure costs. While the firm is creating an industrial park on the site, Harmon said the area should benefit from other commercial uses that may come as a result of demand created by Laraway Crossings. Property taxes from the project, which will require minimal city services, will help finance budgets of two local school districts as well as the city coffers, Harmon said.
In addition to the Laraway Crossings site, Vitali said Joliet recently annexed another 800 acres that will become the site of an earthmover training facility and an autobahn country club, which will have a 3.5-mile grand prix style race track on 550 acres.
Ryan has enlisted Heitman Architects Inc., the civil engineering firm of Jacob & Hefner Associates, PC and landscape architects Ives/Ryan Group, Inc.
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