Matthew J. Stauber, SIOR, principal with Colliers International | Chicago’s Industrial Advisory Group, represented landlord Clarion Partners, LLC in a new 751,966-square-foot, long-term lease to Bob’s Discount Furniture at Heartland Corporate Center II, a new speculative facility at 21215 SW Frontage Road, Shorewood, IL. This transaction, which closed in December 2014, was the third-largest new lease transaction in the I-80 / Joliet Corridor that year, and the fourth-largest in the entire metropolitan Chicago area.
Headquartered in Manchester, CT, Bob’s Discount Furniture is an everyday low price furniture and bedding retailer with 54 showrooms in 11 states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The company was founded in 1991 on the principle of providing unsurpassed values in the middle price range. Honesty and integrity are the hallmarks of the “Bob’s Way” of doing business – a philosophy that applies to customer, co-worker, vendor and community relations.
The new lease at Heartland Corporate Center marks Bob’s Discount Furniture’s first Midwest distribution center, joining those already established in Taftville, CT and Perryman, MD. The company is expected to occupy its new facility in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Heartland Corporate Center is a 156-acre business park located in Chicago’s I-80 / Joliet Corridor near the convergence of I-55 and I-80. Heartland Corporate Center II is a 751,966-square-foot speculative property that was completed December 31, 2014. It features 32′ clear ceiling height, 171 dock doors, 294-car parking, 146 trailer spots, ESFR sprinklers, and high-quality pre-cast construction. The property, which was the largest building constructed in the I-80 / Joliet Corridor in 2014, marks the second building in this successful Clarion Partners development. The first building is a 1,000,058-square-foot property that was fully leased by Stauber to tenants Jacobson Companies and Wilton Industries. A third speculative building totaling 320,000 square feet is set to begin construction in spring 2015 with an anticipated completion date of fourth quarter 2015.
“The I-80 / Joliet Corridor is really beginning to thrive again,” said Stauber. “Vacancy has now gone below 10 percent for the first time in 10 years, and construction activity – both spec and build-to-suit – is picking up. We were pleased to find a tenant like Bob’s Discount Furniture that wanted to break into the Chicago market and valued new construction near the major transportation arteries of I-55 and I-80. With the building’s completion in December, the timing was perfect,” he added.
Trevor Ragsdale with Jones Lang LaSalle represented Bob’s Discount Furniture in this lease transaction.
