The Texas developer planning two large manufacturing facilities in the village of Yorkville has acquired the development site as well as two neighboring buildings for $33 million.
Dallas-based Hillwood Development Co. LLC, which has ties to billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot, is planning to build two nearly 194,000-square-foot speculative industrial buildings directly west of two existing facilities at 1800 and 2000 S. Sylvania Ave in the GrandView Business Park, which lies just west of Interstate 94.
Development plans were approved earlier this week by the village board.
State real estate transaction records posted recently indicate the existing buildings each sold for roughly $12.9 million, while the vacant land to the west where the new facilities will go up was sold for nearly $7.2 million. Tenants at the two existing facilities include Optimas Solutions, Cordstrap USA Inc. and Johnson Fitness and Wellness.
As for the new buildings, Don Schoenheider, Hillwood vice president and Midwest market leader, said the company will be looking for a mix of tenants to fill the space, likely similar to the light manufacturing, assembly and distribution uses from the tenants next door.
“Our hope is to be moving dirt sometime early summer,” he said of the planned spec buildings. “We’re shooting (to finish) first quarter of 2020.”
Michael McKinney, village clerk and treasurer, said the project will need no more approvals from village officials following this week’s meeting, but the development team is required to work with the village engineer for any issues related to things like storm water and sewers.
According to the company’s website, Hillwood was founded in 1988 by Perot’s son, Ross Perot Jr. The younger Perot serves as chairman of both Hillwood and The Perot Group, which manages the various Perot family interests including real estate, oil and gas and financial investments.
Hillwood is also developing a $200 million, 2.6 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Oak Creek for Seattle-based Amazon.
Schoenheider said the developer is interested in pursuing projects in this area due to strong demand and a limited amount of new supply that’s coming in.
“So, we thought of it as a good opportunity,” he said.
