CHICAGO—Duke Realty Corp. has just agreed to construct a new 499,154 square-foot, build-to-suit warehouse for Fellowes Inc. in Butterfield Corporate Park in suburban Aurora. Fellowes will lease the new facility and use it as its main US distribution center. According to officials from Colliers International, who helped put the deal together, the transaction is the Chicago area's largest build-to-suit year-to-date.

A global manufacturer and marketer of business machines, records storage and office accessories, Fellowes employs more than 1,500 people throughout the world and has operations in 16 countries. The new facility will allow the company to consolidate its leased space at 6524 Muirfield Dr. in Hanover Park, IL and its owned Itasca, IL facilities at 1625 Norwood Ave. and 1612 Glenlake Ave. Fellowes occupies about 525,000 square feet within those facilities, and has hired Colliers to sell the two owned properties. The company will relocate to the new Aurora facility, located at the northwest quadrant of Rte. 59 and Ferry Rd. in Aurora, just one-half mile north of the four-way interchange at I-88 and Rte. 59, by May 2016.

“The Duke location was attractive because it will enable it to keep its existing workforce and it's proximate to many existing customers,” David A. Bercu, a principal with Colliers, tells GlobeSt.com. He and Daniel E. Arends, also a principal, represented Fellowes in the transaction. Duke was represented by listing agents David Prell, John Suerth and Traci Buckingham Payette with CBRE and Duke's Susan Bergdoll.