CHICAGO—Ryan Cos. US, Inc. has begun construction on an expandable 746,772 square foot speculative warehouse at 201 Emerald Dr. within Joliet's Laraway Crossings Business Park. The Dallas-based developer Hillwood Investment Properties bought the 49-acre site from Ryan earlier this year as just one part of its plan to establish itself as a major player in the Chicago market.
“Chicago is the second largest industrial market in the country and many of our customers are looking for opportunities in the Midwest and Chicago,” Hillwood senior vice president Don Schoenheider told GlobeSt.com. Hillwood, a Perot company, is best known for its Alliance brand that includes the 18,000-acre AllianceTexas, 2,000-acre AllianceCalifornia, and 4,474-acre AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
As reported in GlobeSt.com, the company opened a Chicago-based office earlier this year, and recently acquired 39 acres at Pinnacle Business Park in suburban Romeoville where it plans to build four class A industrial buildings totaling 638,110 square feet. But this project is the most notable, and will be one of the few options in its area for a tenant that needs more than 700,000 square feet.
Laraway Crossings Business Park, a 362-acre master-planned industrial business park launched in 2000 by Ryan, sits at the northeast corner of Rte. 53 and Laraway Rd. and has the potential to hold seven buildings and 5.1 million square feet. Hillwood could choose to expand the new building by about 312,320 square feet for an overall potential size of just under 1.1 million square feet. It will feature a 36' clear height, 130'- and 186'-deep truck courts, 76 9'x10' dock doors, four 12'x14' drive-in doors and parking stalls for 154 cars and 72 trailers.
Hillwood officials said the building will be suitable for a single user, but even before any expansion it could also accommodate two tenants. Other features of the facility will include state-of-the-art lighting, an ESFR sprinkler system, 45 Mil EPDM ballasted roof, a factory-primed white metal roof deck, 35,000 lb. mechanical dock levelers and 4,000 Amp, 480/277 volt electrical service.
Tenants at Laraway have quick access to I-80, I-55 and the BNSF and UP railroads' intermodal facilities. Local corporate neighbors include IKEA, Amazon, Acer Inc. and Dollar Tree.
Although the vacancy rate for the submarket held mostly steady in the third quarter, according to Colliers, the fact that it stands at only 6.93% has helped push other developers to launch significant projects as well. For example, a 1.7-million square foot build-to-suit warehouse was completed in the third quarter for Michelin Tire at the RidgePort Logistics Center in nearby Wilmington. Furthermore, developers will deliver two speculative and two build-to-suit projects during the fourth quarter and add 970,500 square feet to the I-80/Joliet Corridor inventory base.
Jason West and Sean Henrick of Cushman & Wakefield are Hillwood's listing representatives. Ryan officials say they will complete the building by early summer of 2016.
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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.
