Wexford Hopes for Summer Opening of IIT Business Center

CHICAGO-Wexford Science & Technology, LLC hopes to open its doors this summer to the first tenant at the business center of its 1.5-million-sf $200-million University Technology Park at Illinois Institute of Technology. Work is underway on a $50.4-million overhaul of a 126,000-sf building at the northeast corner of 35th and Federal streets.

The city agreed last year to help finance the business center with $13.4 million in tax increment financing. That investment in the $400 per sf rehab is expected to yield $16 million in new property taxes over the life of the TIF, according to the Department of Planning and Development. Illinois Institute of Technology agreed to lease 26,000 sf at $24 per sf, having also agreed to sell the building for $2.3 million to the developer plus a 55-year ground lease.