(To read more on the industrial market, click here.)

JOLIET, IL-Ikea has signed a contract to purchase 72 acres in the 352-acre Laraway Crossings Business Park, an industrial and distribution park at Route 53 and Laraway Road. Ikea is purchasing the property from Ryan Cos., the developer of the park. Ikea will construct a 650,000-sf facility that will open as early as spring 2009 and may expand the facility an additional 770,000-sf. The sales price was not disclosed. The closing will be some time this summer, says Joseph Roth, director of public affairs for Ikea.

The location will be near the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, in Elwood, which will make it easier for Ikea to receive product to the distribution enter by rail, says Tim Hennelly, vice president of development at Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos. Ikea thought the Joliet location would allow them to be close to the rail center and would also allow them to have easy access to Interstate 80.

Construction is expected to begin on the first phase next year, Roth says. The Midwestern Distribution Center will join a distribution center at 202 Little Hearst Parkway in Port Wentworth, GA which will open this summer and distribution centers in Bristol, PA; Perryville, MD; Tejon, CA; Westhampton, NJ; as well as two stores in Canada: Vancouver, BC and Brossard, QC. A distribution center is also being built in Tacoma, WA. The Joliet center will be consistent with most of the other centers. In addition to distribution space, the building will have an office area, two low bays and one high bay and "state of the art technology," Roth says. "It is fairly self-automated," he says.