O’Hare East Business Center

Off market deal sourced through a local broker relationship leads to development of two state-of-the-art distribution facilities in the O’Hare submarket.

O’Hare East Business Center was built on a 23.6 acre site located only 3.6 miles from the south cargo entrance of O’Hare International Airport in Franklin Park, IL. The property is situated within four miles of several major highways in the Chicago area and is centrally located within an established industrial environment. At closing, the site was improved with an older vintage, 500,000 SF, light industrial/manufacturing building that was 15% occupied by two tenants. KIF negotiated buyouts and relocation agreements with both of the tenants, who vacated the premises.

We demolished the existing structure and began redevelopment of the site on a speculative basis into two state-of-the-art freight forwarding distribution facilities. Combined, the buildings totaled approximately 400,000 SF, and featured 30-foot clear heights and a high ratio of dock doors. With the planned building configuration allowing for excess trailer parking and shallow bay depth, the new structure compared favorably to other redevelopment sites in the region.

At the time of the acquisition, the O’Hare Modernization Program was slated to condemn a significant amount of air cargo facilities on the south side of the airport, displacing numerous air freight companies in the process. Tenant demand for new product at O’Hare was particularly strong during the time of acquisition, with over 2 million SF of requirements in the market. This project represented a compelling opportunity to meet that market demand.