CHICAGO—The industrial market in Southeast Wisconsin is on fire, and the Opus Group believes its time to start building new options for users looking for relatively small spaces. The Minneapolis-based company has just unveiled plans for a 155,844 square foot speculative industrial project in Mt. Pleasant, a town just west of Racine and about 60 miles north of Chicago. The building will be the first in the Mt. Pleasant Business Park. Opus will begin construction on the project this month.
“There are really two separate markets in Southeast Wisconsin,” Julie Ledger, vice president and general manager, Opus Development Co., LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. “We've seen a lot of new construction for big industrial users in Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie, places that tend to draw companies from the Chicago area. Mt. Pleasant tends to draw the smaller firms from around Milwaukee and Racine.”
“The vacancy rate here is about 3% to 4%,” she adds, “and there has been a lot of activity but many of the properties that are available are not the best.” A few local landlords have space available in buildings with 28' to 30' clear ceiling heights, but this new project will offer prospective tenants 32' ceilings. “We do think that this differentiates our product from the competition.”
The building will also offer easy access to I-94, the major transit corridor linking Milwaukee and Chicago, as well as 16 dock doors and 3 drive-in doors, parking stalls for 151 vehicles and an ESFR sprinkler system. The development will accommodate single or multi-tenant occupancy. Opus plans to complete the project by next summer.
Opus' recent portfolio of work includes 6.8 million square feet of industrial developments currently in its pipeline or completed in the past 20 months across the US.
A joint venture partnership between Opus Development and Founders Properties, LLC will own the building. Opus Design Build, LLC will be the design-builder and Opus AE Group, LLC will be the architect and structural engineer of record. Barry Chavin and Curt Pitzen with NAI MLG Commercial will market the property for lease.
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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.
