CHICAGO—Principle Construction Corp. has started construction on a new speculative warehouse at 900 Windham Parkway in suburban Bolingbrook. Although the developers did recently land Berlin Packaging, a hybrid-packaging supplier, as a tenant for a portion of the 237,000-square-foot building, the project has also had to deal with this year's poor weather conditions.
“Mother Nature sure has thrown a long string of curve balls at us on this project,” said Mark Augustyn, chief operating officer of Bannockburn, IL-based Principle, in a prepared statement. He could not be reached by press time, but GlobeSt.com will provide a future update. “Polar Vortexes, frozen ground into April, snow in May, along with record rains in May and June. Still, thanks to the dedicated effort of everyone involved in the project, we've managed to hit each curve and keep Berlin on schedule to occupy their space on time.”
Dallas-based Clarion Partners, which Seefried Properties represents locally, owns the site and building. Berlin will occupy 125,478-square-feet, including 8,500-square-feet of offices. The packaging company will move from northwest suburban Arlington Heights.
The precast building with feature a 32' clear height, an ESFR sprinkler system, 22 exterior truck docks, 25 future truck docks, 35 trailer parking stalls, two drive-in doors and 217 automobile parking stalls.
This is not the only speculative project underway in the neighborhood. As reported in GlobeSt.com, rising rental rates for similar industrial properties helped Molto Properties launch an 189,700-square-foot spec project in Romeoville. “Buildings of this size are now renting for high $3-per-square-foot to a little more than $4,” Todd Naccarato, founder and senior principal of Molto, told GlobeSt.com. “Eighteen months ago, rates were stuck at $3.25 to $3.35.”
Other developers also took advantage of the strengthening I-55 market to finish up significant projects in the second quarter. IDI, for example, enclosed a 602,600-square-foot spec bulk warehouse/distribution building at 700 S. Weber Rd. in Bolingbrook, according to Colliers' second quarter report on industrial property. And Conor Commercial Real Estate completed a 347,400-square-foot build-to-suit for Orbus Exhibit & Display Group at Union Pointe Business Park in Woodridge.
“Construction deliveries to date reached 1.8-million-square-feet, which is the highest annual total since 2008 when 2.5-million-square-feet of new projects were constructed,” Colliers found.
Principle officials plan to complete the construction by November. Ken Lattanzi is the project manager, Tom Sterbenz the superintendent and Mark Augustyn is the principal involved with the project. Harris Architects, Inc. is providing architectural services.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
