Newmark Grubb Knight Frank closes trio of industrial leases in I-55 corridor

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank recently completed three industrial lease transactions totaling nearly 716,000 square feet on behalf of Assemblers, Inc., Petco and an undisclosed Fortune 500 manufacturer and distributor in the Interstate-55 Corridor submarket of Chicago.

Led by Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director and head of NGKF’s national industrial practice, the transactions are valued in excess of $22 million in aggregate.

In the first transaction, NGKF completed a long-term, 353,322-square-foot lease on behalf of Assemblers, Inc.at 8601 W. 47th St. in McCook, Illinois.

Founded in 1974, Assemblers is a private assembly and contract packaging company. The firm inked the lease of the vacant speculative facility in McCook to serve as its third Chicago-area facility in support of its growing third-party food production business. Heitman Capital Management, which purchased 8601 W. 47th St. in April of 2016, was represented by Jason West of Cushman and Wakefield.

NGKF’s Kasselman and Jack Cozzie, senior managing director, represented Petco in a 309,840-square-foot lease renewal. Petco extended its lease for one of its core distribution centers located at 3801 Rock Creek Blvd. in Joliet, Illinois.

Kasselman and Cozzie assisted the firm with a market condition assessment, competitive space analyses, financial analyses, tenant improvement coordination and lease negotiations.

In the third transaction, NGKF’s Kasselman represented an undisclosed Fortune 500 manufacturer and distributor in a long-term, 51,900-square-foot lease in Hodgkins, Illinois, along with NGKF’s Corey Chase, senior managing director, and Joshua Bauer, associate.

Due to the undisclosed firm’s growing Chicago-area business, the firm engaged NGKF to assist in finding an additional location.