CHICAGO—Industrial users have been absorbing new space in the Chicago region almost as fast as developers can put it up. So it's no surprise that Hillwood, a Perot company, has just decided to launch another major speculative development in the area, and this one will be the largest one underway. The Dallas-based developer recently closed on the acquisition of an 84.86-acre landsite in suburban Joliet and will begin construction immediately on a 992,640-square-foot distribution center with capacity to expand to 1.5 million square feet.

Hillwood has developed four other properties in the Chicago region, totaling nearly 1.3 million square feet, over the past 15 months. One of these projects was a 746,772-square-foot spec building at 201 Emerald Dr., also in Joliet. Amazon.com's decision earlier this year to completely occupy it provided a big boost to the local economy and illustrated the robust level of demand in the market.

“We were very pleased that Amazon decided to lease our first Chicago-area spec building, which had proved to be of interest to several prospective tenants,” Don Schoenheider, Hillwood's senior vice president and Midwest market leader, tells GlobeSt.com. “We remain confident in this market and its growth and continue to see strong tenant activity.”