Tire manufacturer takes more than 250,000 square feet in Channahon

Camso USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Michelin, has signed a new, 252,208-square-foot lease for its largest U.S. warehouse, located at 24601 S. Bradley Street in Channahon, Illinois. The company is relocating from a previous warehouse location in Joliet, Illinois.

David Liebman, SIOR, JD, managing broker of Merit Partners, Inc., brokered the deal for Camso. The building owner, Crow Holdings Industrial (CHI), was represented by brokers Sean Henrick, SIOR, and Jason West, SIOR, of Cushman & Wakefield with CHI managing director, Matt Kurucz, acting as ownership’s leader in the transaction.

Camso, one of North America’s largest manufacturers and distributors of rubber tires and tracks for off-the-road vehicles and construction equipment, selected the site not only for its location and labor needs, but also to meet Michelin’s high standards for warehouse facilities.

Liebman introduced them to the new state-of-the-art warehouse building due to its upscale image, functional layout and 36-foot clear ceiling height, among other features. Camso expects to move into the property in September 2020, following completion of extensive tenant improvements.

“This one-year-old speculative building meets Michelin’s standards, including a lease with incentives in excess of $1.1M in monetary benefits to the tenant,” says Liebman. “It allowed Camso to relocate from a functionally obsolete space to a new state-of-the-art distribution center.”

From an initial list of twenty-two prospective properties submitted by Liebman, the search quickly narrowed to a short list of three properties. Letters of intent were submitted on all three properties, followed by in-depth negotiations with those landlords until the Channahon property emerged as the winning candidate.

“As we met and started to work together, I quickly respected and agreed with David’s judgement, and came to rely on him throughout the whole process,” said Baldwin Hickey, Camso’s warehouse and transport director for the Americas. “It went very well and was surprisingly easy to work with this building owner. In past warehouse deals I’ve had some really nasty run-ins with a few landlords. This deal was the opposite: the landlord was so open, transparent and easy to work with.”

Liebman agreed, noting that “Without the incredibly cooperative and forward-thinking efforts of Matt Kurucz of CHI, builder Arco/Murray Construction Company and the Cushman & Wakefield team, this deal would never have been completed.”