Large Buildout Complete on 375 KSF Chicago Warehouse

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

1600 Sequoia Drive, Aurora, Ill.

Tenant improvements for one of the largest recent industrial leases in the Chicago area have been completed. Principle Construction Corp. completed the buildout of the asset, located at 1600 Sequoia Drive in Aurora, Ill. Principle, which is based in Rosemont, Ill., had delivered the building to the owners, Seefried Industrial Properties, of Atlanta, and LIT Industrial Limited Partnership, of Dallas, in 2016.

The tenant is Magick Woods, a manufacturer and distributor of kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, vanity tops and sinks that distributes its products through Menards, Lowe’s and Home Depot.

To meet the occupancy date, the major buildout at the 375,000-square-foot industrial property reportedly was completed on a compressed schedule of only six weeks.

Improvements included the addition of a new 3,500-square-foot office space, a 94,276-square-foot racking area with 32-foot clear height, a 7,800-square-foot assembly area, 7-inch THE floor slab with Big Foot mesh, 2400 amps of 480-volt power, 16 40,000-pound dock levelers, 58 trailer storage spaces, a 600-square-foot satellite shipping and receiving office, battery charging stations, and LED interior and exterior lighting.

Principle’s Darrin Dehmlow acted as the Senior Project Manager for the improvements and Tom Sterbenz served as Superintendent. Harris Architects provided design services.

Established in 1999, Principle specializes in the design and construction of manufacturing, warehouse and distribution, medical, office, laboratory and food-processing facilities.

Solid submarket, strong metro

The I-88 Corridor submarket finished the year with an average vacancy of 6.6 percent, nearly 80 basis points below the figure from 12 months prior, according to a year-end report from Colliers International.

Net absorption was down over 2016, but so were deliveries, and only 662,000 square feet was under construction as of December 2017. The average asking rental rate edged up during 2017, to $4.84.

Colliers marked the Magick Woods lease as the largest of 2017 in the I-88 Corridor.

A Transwestern report from late 2017 noted that suburban Chicago’s industrial properties have retained investor interest, despite a national shift in the direction of secondary markets.

Image courtesy of Principle Construction Corp.