Bridge Development Partners LLC and Panattoni Development Co. are separately starting construction on distribution centers totaling nearly 366,000 square feet, betting they can sign up tenants before buildings are open.
A joint venture that includes Chicago-based Bridge and Texas oilman Ray Hunt is set to start a 226,000-square-foot speculative building in southwest suburban McCook. Meanwhile, about 20 miles west, Panattoni and Chicago-based partner LaSalle Investment Management Inc. recently broke ground on a nearly 140,000-square-foot building in Roselle.
The projects are part of wave of speculative industrial developments in the Chicago area, with developers starting work without leases in hand.
Spec projects totaling more than 1.4 million square feet are under construction in the Chicago area, according to Seattle-based real estate firm Colliers International. The building boom, which comes after a long lull in the construction of warehouses, reflects a newfound sense of confidence that tenants will expand.
Read more in Crain’s Chicago Business.
