Stonepeak Pays $125M for Chicagoland Industrial Asset

A New York investor just made the largest industrial play of the year in Chicagoland.

Stonepeak paid $125 million for 1.7 million square feet of logistics space, comprising properties at 21505 and 21561 Mississippi Avenue and 26318-26634 South Walton Drive, in the southwest suburb of Elwood, CoStar reported. The seller was Oak Brook-based CenterPoint Properties. The price works out to almost $74 per square foot.

The portfolio is part of the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, a 6,400-acre complex along BNSF and Union Pacific rail terminals. It spans 17 million square feet and houses more than 50 tenants, including Clearwater Paper, Partners Warehouse and Resource Management.

StonePeak’s acquisition marks the priciest industrial sale so far in 2024, topping Brookfield’s nearly $99 million purchase of three warehouses in southwest suburbs Bolingbrook and Romeoville.

Demand for industrial space skyrocketed during the initial years of the pandemic, which caused a spike in e-commerce, attracting developers and investors alike. However, demand has started to cool. Prologis, the world’s largest industrial developer and owner, recently cautioned investors about this downward trend, anticipating its profits will dip.

High interest rates and a tight lending climate have also posed challenges, with Chicago-area industrial sales dropping from $6.9 billion in 2022 to $3.2 billion last year, the outlet reported. Deal volume has totalled $643.4 million so far this year.

Stonepeak, an alternative investment firm managing over $65 billion in assets, focuses on infrastructure and real estate investments. CenterPoint Properties, meanwhile, has long been involved in intermodal projects throughout the southwest suburbs.

Other notable industrial sales this year include RIM Logistics’ $44 million purchase of a 400,000-square-foot asset in west suburban Bartlett. RIM acquired the property from Midwest Industrial.

Farther west, DS Containers bought the 238,000-square-foot property at 1789 Hubbard Avenue in Batavia, for $24 million, from Link Logistics.

—Quinn Donoghue