Liberty Property Trust has acquired 16 acres at 333 Howard Avenue in Des Plaines. After removing an existing 290,000 square foot building, the company plans to develop a 236,000 square foot Class “A” distribution facility. Groundbreaking is slated for this fall.
“This acquisition will fortify our position in the O’Hare area,” said Don Schoenheider, vice president and city manager, Liberty Property Trust. “The planned speculative development will be the largest for Liberty in the submarket. Being less than one mile from the north cargo entrance, this prime location will allow us to offer our tenants unparalleled access to O’Hare International Airport.”
The building at 333 Howard Avenue was formerly a facility for Alcon/Ciba Vision. The seller was represented in the transaction by the team of Britt F. Casey and Christopher P. Lydon at Cushman & Wakefield, who will also assist Liberty in the leasing of the new development.
Liberty increases its presence in the O’Hare market with eleven properties totaling 895,133 square feet. Today, Liberty owns 48 buildings offering approximately 12 million square feet of space in the region, with concentrations of property throughout the O’Hare submarket, I-55 Corridor, the Aurora/I-88 submarket and the Minooka/Elwood/I-80 Corridor, Central DuPage, as well as in Southeastern Wisconsin.