DCT Industrial Trust Inc. has executed a 401,000-square-foot long-term lease at DCT 55 in Romeoville. DCT 55 is a new 604,000-square-foot facility at 1160 W. Crossroads Parkway.
The tenant, Minneapolis-based Valspar Corp., a publicly traded international manufacturer of paints and coatings, is expected to open a paint distribution center in the fourth quarter. The Romeoville warehouse was built last year.
Valspar has its paint division’s headquarters in Chicago near O’Hare International Airport. Continued growth at factories in south suburban Matteson and northwest suburban Wheeling necessitated the need for a separate distribution facility, said Colliers International broker Jack Rosenberg, who represented the landlord and tenant in the lease.
“There’s been a great recovery in Chicago, but this was a big risk to build a warehouse of that size,” said Rosenberg, a principal in the Chicago office of Seattle-based Colliers. “To sign a lease within the first year is really big for DCT.”
DCT, which last year opened a Chicago-area office to push expansion here, has boosted its local portfolio to 7.8 million square feet, a nearly 32 percent bump over the last year, the firm said in a statement. In that same time, DCT has leased 1.6 million square feet, bringing its local warehouses to almost 95 percent occupied, the company said.
The real estate investment trust still needs to lease 203,000 square feet at DCT 55. DCT Regional Vice President Brian Roach said in the statement that “given strong tenant demand and the building’s state-of-the-art design, we feel confident about leasing the balance of the building.”
“DCT 55 is in one of the most desirable distribution areas in Chicago, with favorable supply dynamics for buildings of its size. We are thrilled to have found the perfect anchor customer,” Roach said.
