Opus Group plans to build a 1.2 million square foot speculative industrial warehouse in the I-80 submarket, the firm announced Tuesday.
The project will be located in Joliet near U.S. Route 6 and Hollywood Road on 75 acres of land that Opus purchased from Ketone Partners. The development will be a joint venture with AEW Capital Management.
In 2016 the I-80 corridor had the lowest vacancy rate, 4.75 percent, ever recorded in the submarket, according to a report from Colliers International. The largest delivery last year was a 1.1-million-square-foot build-to-suit for Saddle Creek Logistics. The largest speculative delivery in 2016 was a 746,772-square-foot in Laraway Crossings Business Park, now leased by Amazon.
Six speculative projects, five of which will be greater than 700,000-square-feet, are currently under construction in the I-80 corridor, Colliers reported. The projects total 4.6 million square feet and combined with Opus’ 1.2 million-square-foot development will create a lot of vacant space in the market.
If you look at absorption overtime, I think this submarket can sustain that amount of spec development,” Opus Vice President Mike Yungerman told RE Journals. “It is a fantastic location and combined with the current vacancy rate trends and seeing larger tenants in the market place–we want to capitalize on that.”
The building will feature 36-foot clear height, more than 200 loading docks, up to 450 trailer positions, an ESFR sprinkler system and parking for 225 cars with room for expansion.
The speculative building will be able to accommodate a single users or up to two tenants of 500,000 square feet or greater. The space is geared toward e-commerce and intermodal logistics industries.
