"We were triggered to do a number of improvements, and now I think we're more prepared than ever for when the market turns around, in having build-to-suit pads ready," Gunther Lubben, director of development with Ryan, tells GlobeSt.com. "We shaved a lot of time off putting power and gas in the park in the future, and we're ready to go now."

Work on the development, at Route 53 and Laraway Road, began in 2000. When completed, the park could offer as much as six million sf, to become one of the largest industrial parks in the Chicago metropolitan area, the company said. The park currently houses two buildings representing a combined 850,000 sf: 401 E. Laraway Road, a 475,104-sf building fully leased by confectionery and beverages company Cadbury plc, and a now-vacant, 374,400-sf facility once leased by third-party logistics firm Arnold Logistics. The vacant building, which was built on spec five years ago, is expandable to 750,000 sf. "Vacancies in the Interstate 80-Joliet corridor are getting up there," Lubben says. "The submarket has 12 million sf of inventory."

In August, after nearly a year-and-a-half of work, Ryan Companies closed on a deal with Ikea to purchase 72 acres in the business park. The Swedish retailer will build a 1.3-million-sf Midwest distribution center on the site. The sales price was not disclosed.Lubben says Ryan's focus at Laraway is on building facilities for one to three tenants, ranging in size from 300,000 to 750,000 sf. "There will be projects with million sf specs, but I think Laraway is better positioned to do the smaller build-to-suits," Lubben says.