The development will be constructed in two phases with work on the first phase beginning at the end of the month. The first phase will include site work, a medical office building and some retail which is expected to open in the third quarter of next year, Doyle says. The Prairie Pointe Medical Office Center will be a four-story building with 66,000 sf. The joint venture decided to construct a medical office building as opposed to "a typical office building where workers come in the day and that is it," Doyle says. "Whereas, a medical building, physicians could see four to eight patients per day." The medical office draws "a lot of traffic" to the development and supports the retail, he says. In addition, medical office tenants tend to be longstanding tenants who provide some stability to the rent rolls, a spokeswoman says.

There will be between 70,000 sf and 80,000 sf of retail in the first phase with a mixture of both inline space and a "medium-size box retailer," he says. Construction on the second phase of the development is expected to begin next spring and open in the first or second quarter of 2009. The second phase will include three restaurants of about 8,000 sf to 12,000 sf each and a hotel, Doyle says. The hotel will probably be between 70,000 sf and 90,000 sf with between 130 and 160 rooms, he tells GlobeSt.com.

The joint venture was drawn to the site, in part, by the location of the corporate headquarters of Sears Holding Corp., American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Mary Kay, Serta International, Siemens Medical Solutions and Silesia Flavors Inc. But, they were also interested in the parcel because of the "repositioning" of the business park that has occurred by Sears and the Village of Hoffman States, such as the opening of the 11,000-seat Sears Centre Arena and the recent announcement of the construction of a Cabela's. "In the last five years or so, they have really gone after entertainment and retail," he says. "That really caught our attention two years ago."