A groundbreaking ceremony will be held this morning to celebrate the start of construction of a 692,000-square-foot distribution center at 8410 60th St., Kenosha, for Norfolk, Neb.-based Affiliated Foods Midwest. The development is just the latest example of how sprawl from the Chicago area is spurring growth in Kenosha County. Chicago-based First Industrial Realty Trust is building the warehouse on a 100-acre site southeast of 52nd Street and 88th Avenue. The site is just north of where First Industrial is building a 600,000-square-foot distribution center for Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Rust-Oleum Corp. Affiliated Foods Midwest is a cooperative owned entirely by independent grocers located in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. About 250 full- and part-time employees will work in the building. In the future, the building may be expanded to 1.5 million square feet of total space with 500 employees.
