Traveling west on Roosevelt Road in West Chicago heading toward Geneva, the landscape is chock full of industrial warehouses and other similar structures on land that was commonly used for farming in the past.
The industrial real estate market has been booming over the last few years, and the changing landscape is a testament to it. Generally, speculative properties or “specs” are built by industrial developers with the intent to build first and find tenants who will lease the space later. One such property in West Chicago, a speculative warehouse development was recently sold by Midwest Industrial Funds to an East Coast firm for more than $41 million.
Boston-based Stag Industrial bought the 400,000-square-foot facility, situated on 23 acres at 537 Discovery Drive, West Chicago, in a deal recorded Aug. 11, according to DuPage County public records. Stag is headed up by CEO William Crooker.
Oak Brook-based Midwest Industrial, a development and acquisition firm led by founders Justin Fierz and Michael Androwich announced that construction was underway on the development in March of 2022. At that time, Development costs were not disclosed.
In December 2022 Fierz was quoted in a news article saying leasing at Midwest Industrial’s properties had been “as strong as ever,” adding that limited supply was “getting gobbled up pretty quickly.”
The Oak Brook firm “recognized the market need and lack of supply for this type of Class A speculative building in the submarket,” a company webpage said of the West Chicago asset.
According to information gathered, it appears the West Chicago property had at least one major tenant, California-based Vanguard Logistics Services, as of last year. The firm inked a 287,000 square foot lease at the Discovery Drive facility.
In addition to the property on Discovery Drive, Midwest Industrial Funds has another spec located in WeGo featured on the company’s website. That spec sits on eighteen acres at 2525 Enterprise Circle and consists of 303,601 square feet.
