Ground Breaks on Industrial Centers

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AURORA, IL-Liberty Property Trust of Malvern, PA and the Sacramento-based Panattoni Development Co. LLC have separately broken ground on a total 1.34 million sf of new warehouse and distribution center space in metro Chicago. The projects have an estimated aggregate hard construction cost of $64.3 million.

Liberty has started construction on a two-building, 800,000-sf venture at its 200-acre, 1.3-million-sf Liberty Business Center in Aurora, near Interstate 88. The $40-million project equates to an average hard construction cost of $50 per sf. The first 600,000-sf spec building, being built on Bilter Road between Church and Mitchell roads, is slated for completion in fall 2006. The second 200,000-sf structure, a build-to-suit for PPG Industries, is expected to be completed in early 2007, according to Liberty vice president Don Schoenheider.