For Distributors, Functionality Matters Most

CHICAGO—Saddle Creek Logistics Services’ decision earlier this year to lease a new 1,114,575 square-foot build-to-suit distribution facility at CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Joliet was the largest industrial transaction and build-to-suit in the Midwest region of the US, but it also illustrates several important changes that have occurred in the distribution space and will govern it for the foreseeable future.

“It really speaks to the state of the market for 3PLs and how much they’re growing,” Brian McKiernan, senior vice president, development of CenterPoint, tells GlobeSt.com. Saddle Creek, he points out, will relocate to CIC from a 590,000 square-foot facility in nearby Elwood, IL, nearly doubling their space. It plans to move by February, 2016.