Bridge Industrial Plans 1.5 MSF Chicago-Area Project

10400 W. North Ave., Melrose Park, Ill. Image via Google Earth

Bridge Industrial has paved the way for the development of Bridge Point Melrose Park, a cutting-edge industrial campus that will exceed 1.5 million square feet, with the acquisition of a site spanning more than 86 acres in the coveted O’Hare submarket in Melrose Park, Ill. Bridge acquired the metropolitan Chicago property in a limited leaseback transaction with truck and engine holding company Navistar, which will cease operations at the location by November 2021.

Dan McGillicuddy, managing director with JLL, represented Navistar in the transaction. As JLL remarked on other industrial projects popping up in the O’Hare submarket in its first quarter 2021 report, “It is exciting to see the town prioritizing industrial investment and job creation while growing their commercial tax base.”

READ ALSO: Top 5 Industrial Transactions in 2021

Carrying the address of 10400 W. North Ave., the future site of Bridge Point is home to a series of building segments that have sprouted up since the mid-1940s—and Navistar’s previous incarnation as International Harvester—including a handful of new enhancements that added 700,000 square feet to the property in an expansion and renovation project in 2013.

Easily accessible to O’Hare International Airport and within quick reach of major thoroughfares and other modes of transportation, the property is in a prime location within the O’Hare submarket.

Navistar, which just completed a merger at the beginning this month, announced plans to sell the property in January 2021, due to a change in its business and was determined to see the site continue to serve the community in a productive manner—specifically as a state-of-the-art industrial park.

Bridge plans to transform what has long been a vehicle manufacturing operation into a cutting-edge industrial destination featuring three premier facilities. Two of the buildings will encompass approximately 416,000 square feet each, while the third structure will offer roughly 708,000 square feet and hold the distinction of being the only industrial building in the O’Hare submarket to offer accommodations exceeding half-a-million square feet.

Building sans commitment in the suburbs

While Navistar will lease back facilities after a brief shutdown, Bridge has nary a tenant in place as it takes ownership of the site. The company, however, is undaunted by the absence of an advanced commitment, as the project will mark its 10th speculative development in the O’Hare submarket since 2012, adding to its current portfolio of just over 3 million square feet in the area.

Not only is Bridge well acquainted with speculative development, but the company is also accustomed to building in markets with solid fundamentals. O’Hare recorded a vacancy rate of 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2021, compared to metropolitan Chicago’s 6.6 percent, as per a report by Colliers International. And during each of the past three quarters, O’Hare’s new leases and lease expansions have totaled more than 1 million square feet.

“The O’Hare submarket has witnessed strong demand over the past several years, and this trend is expected to continue throughout 2021. The only limiting factor is available supply, as the vacancy rate remains near its all-time low,” according to the Colliers report. Bridge Point is on schedule to reach completion in mid-2023.