More than 1 million square feet of warehouses are proposed near Chicago’s DuPage Airport as developers seek to capitalize on rising pandemic-era demand for industrial real estate.
Developer HIP VI Enterprises LLC is planning a “Geneva Lostistics Center” of four warehouses on 75 acres at the northwest corner of Kautz Road and Geneva Drive, according to the Daily Herald citing documents on the city’s website. The speculative building will contain more than 23 loading docks and parking spaces for more than 145 trailers and 1,400 cars.
For the project to move forward, the city needs to annex the 75-acre site on the Hillwood Weber Farm, rezone it to light industrial use from farming, and approve a planned unit development. A hearing is scheduled with the city’s planning and zoning commission on March 24 at Geneva City Hall.
The project faces potential opposition from residents fearing traffic and pollution in the area as a recent incident suggests. Plans for a nearby 278,000-square-foot industrial building got scrapped in October following protests from residents citing increased truck traffic. To the north of the Geneva Lostistics Center are several residential properties and a sports complex and the west is 35 acres of farmland, where the city wants to bring light industrial buildings at Kirk Road and Division Street.
Industrial real estate became the hottest commercial real estate asset class in the past two years as demand grew for warehouses to enable quicker deliveries. In Chicago, industrial rents surged to a record of $5.90 per square foot in the fourth quarter, up 17.3 percent from the previous year’s $4.90.
During the pandemic, developers turned to converting office space into warehouses in the suburbs of Chicago as empty office buildings became prime targets for logistics firms seeking to expand. Nevada industrial developer Dermody Properties bought Allstate’s suburban Chicago campus in Northbrook for $232 million last year to build 11 industrial buildings after tearing the property down.
[Daily Herald] – Connie Kim