The building, on a 37-acre parcel located at the southwest corner of I-55 and Veterans Parkway, will be the first building in the 86-acre Crossroads Lake Business Park. Features include 72 exterior docks expandable to 149 in a cross-dock configuration, extensive trailer storage and 30-foot clear ceilings. Corum also has plans for a 262,000 sf spec building on the south side of the development, along with a 19-acre vacant parcel on I-55 available for sale or build-to-suit.

"The I-55 submarket has witnessed tremendous absorption during 2002," says David Bercu, a principal at Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc, who is marketing the property for lease or sale. "Recently, the size of deals has become much larger, with companies looking for larger spaces and those deals have had to rely on build-to-suit to satisfy their needs."

Industrial activity in the I-55 Corridor continues to lead the Chicago industrial market in terms of the overall number and size of transaction with approximately 2 million sf of total lease and sale transactions completed during the 3Q of 2002, according to Champion Realty Advisors. Build-to-suit does seems to be the trend, with notable transactions such as Southern Wine and Spirits in IDI's Bolingbrook Corporate Center, 425,000 sf, and Kellogg's new 1 million sf Super Regional Distribution Center at Catellus Development Corporations's Internationale Center South Business Park, representing the largest build-to-suit in Chicago in the last 20 years.