Industrial Outdoor Ventures (IOV), a real estate investment company specializing in the acquisition, development and re-development of industrial service facilities, has signed Direct Trucking (Direct) to a long-term lease at its 18.9-acre truck and container yard located at 23264 Youngs Road in Channahon, Illinois. The providers of international cargo services will move from its current location at 2040 N. Mannheim Road in Melrose Park when the lease commences in May 2018.
The secured property includes a maintenance shop and office building with driver facilities. It is paved, lighted and fenced with electric security gates and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. For Direct, the lease represents a significant increase in yard capacity for the storage and staging of ocean containers, trucks and trailers. In addition, the company gains a newer and significantly larger on-site maintenance shop.
As is common for today’s freight and logistics companies, location was a major draw for Direct, which cites the facility’s excellent access to BNSF’s intermodal in Elwood and the UP intermodal in Joliet as key factors in the full facility lease. Cawley Chicago’s Josh Hearne represented IOV in the transaction while CBRE’s Jason Lev and John Suerth worked on behalf of the tenant.
“This is a quality asset with a quality ownership team,” said Direct’s CEO Ed Kim. “The rise of e-commerce is fueling our business and as a result, we needed significantly greater capacity. We have, with this lease, put ourselves in position to better serve our growing customer base.”
Industrial service facilities are mission critical facilities that are used to store, maintain and dispatch equipment and/or bulk material. They are primarily used by the transportation, construction, construction material and utility industries.
IOV is currently in acquisition mode, seeking to acquire $100 million in assets over the next 12 to 24 months, with a five-year plan to amass more than $500 million in product type. Its portfolio currently spans the U.S. with properties in major markets such as Denver, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta, among others.
