John Deere Eyes $125M Warehouse Near Chicago

Vantage One will develop the 1.2 million-square-foot facility.

Central Steel and Wire facility at Gateway 57 Business Park
Central Steel and Wire’s facility is another recent Venture One development in metro Chicago. That facility came online in 2023. Image courtesy of Venture One Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield

Venture One will construct a build-to-suit, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility for John Deere in Lowell, Ind.

The Fortune 100 company purchased the 234-acre site from Hallmark Construction Co. for $7 million. Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty represented the seller.

Lake County Planning and Building Administrator Steve Nigro claimed that the rezoning was approved, and the board is currently awaiting the site development plan, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana.

John Deere intends to invest up to $125 million in the project, dubbed Tempo, the same source reveals. These funds include $100 million for construction, $15 million for equipment and $10 million in miscellaneous costs.


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Attorney James L. Wieser, who represented the developer, stated that there are plans to further expand the project by roughly 500,000 to 700,000 square feet. Tempo will generate roughly 1,200 union construction jobs and an estimated 500 permanent positions will be available upon the facility’s completion.

Located at 2105 W. 181st Ave., the development site has direct frontage on Interstate 65 South and Indiana Route 2. Downtown Chicago is some 59 miles northwest.  

Coldwell Banker Realty Brokers Nancy Frigo and Nicholas Smith represented Hallmark Construction Co. in the transaction proceedings.

Chicago’s industrial pipeline grows

Chicago ranked third nationwide for industrial development in May, with 10.8 million square feet of space under construction, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. The figure represented 1.0 percent of total stock, nearly half the national 1.9 percent figure.

Last month, Dermody Properties broke ground on a $140 million, 2.4 million-square-foot logistics park in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Completion is estimated in 2025.

Earlier this year, a joint venture of Avgeris and Associates, The Missner Group and Wylie Capital unveiled plans to redevelop a 459,927-square-foot, two-building property into an industrial campus measuring upward of 1.1 million square feet.

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