Illinois

There may be no better place to start than Illinois, which received Site Selection's Governor's Cup award for 2001. Illinois is ranked number one in total value of truck shipments with $794.5 billion and is also ranked number one in value of shipments originating in the state with $164.7 billion worth of goods shipped. Boeing's decision to relocate its headquarters to Chicago led the news last year. This year, the projects are spread across the state, but Chicago continues to wield and spread its influence.
        Building on the region's No. 1 commodities movement ranking is the 2,032-acre (822-hectare) CenterPoint Intermodal Center. The distribution and transportation complex located on the former Joliet Arsenal property will include a 621-acre intermodal freight yard operated by Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. and a 1,100-acre (445-hectare) industrial park.
        That's just a smidgen of a park that eventually is expected to build out to 17 million sq. ft. (1.58-million sq. m.). The project is just part of a gradual shift of the city's Big Shoulders, with the industrial profile slowly extending into northeast Illinois along I-80. Much of the new space is indeed warehouse and distribution facilities, built as much for upgrading (higher ceilings, better cross-docking) as for geographic location.
        Another huge intermodal project is under way in De Kalb, where Union Pacific Railroad is building a 1,200-acre (486-hectare) facility. De Kalb is home to major distribution operations from 3M, Goodyear and Nestle, among others.
        Moran Transportation is investing $9 million in a new logistics center in Rockford, the new corporate headquarters location for financial services firm CAMCO, which could bring as many as 500 jobs to the city over the next three years. In Sterling, halfway between Rockford and the Quad Cities, German firm Menk USA is locating its first U.S. plant, a 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) facility that will employ 50 people in the manufacture of radiators and coolant systems for transformers. Karl Gross, managing director of Menk GMBH, said Sterling was the ideal location, and the company was aided in its quest by the city's promised sewer, roadway and water improvements, as it welcomes its first tenant to the 100-acre (40-hectare) Meadowlands Business Park.
        Another trend is the construction of smaller build-to-suits for companies that would rather own than lease, given favorable rates.
        After breaking ground late in 2002 on a $10-million manufacturing facility in Vincennes, Ind., automotive component manufacturer FIC America is opening a similar factory in the Klein Creek Industrial Park in Bloomingdale, Ill. The 147,324-sq.-ft. (13,686-sq.-m.) building was completed in July.
        Continuing the move west, Elgin's Slough Business Center has welcomed a facility from leather and nylon product maker World Richman, and Box Packaging is putting in a 400,000-sq.-ft (37,10-sq.-m.) facility in Interstate Partners' Northwest Business Park.
        To the southwest, Downers Grove is seeing a significant corporate headquarters expansion from highly respected firm ServiceMaster, which will be adding 25 employees when it moves into its new 65,000-sq.-ft. (6,039-sq.-m.) headquarters.
        "We have an outstanding team here in Illinois and continue to be impressed with the quality of the workers available across the state," said Jonathan Ward, Chairman and CEO of ServiceMaster. "We're especially pleased that Illinois supports ServiceMaster's continuing commitment to help our people grow through training and development."
        South of the Windy City, there is the $20-million, 908,000-sq.-ft. (83,000-sq.m.) new distribution facility for Maryland-based Sweetheart Cup in the planned community of University Park. The first project in the 250-acre USAA Commerce Park, the building is slated to be complete in early 2003, and is the third recent project completed for the company by Clayco Construction. The master plan includes three additional buildings totaling another 800,000 sq. ft. (74,320 sq. m.) on the 140-acre (57-hectare) site, replacing the company's old facility. Besides offering all the infrastructure, the park is also offering tax increment financing incentives.
        The community's Governor's Gateway Industrial Park, already home to almost 50 companies, recently annexed 860 acres (348 hectares) to double its capacity. Sweetheart has recently undergone facility consolidation, restructuring and improvement activity that cost the company $7.6 million, although that was partially offset by the sale of its Manchester, N.H., facility for $3 million. Following the real estate trend, the company realized significant savings two years ago when it chose to sell much of its equipment to certain owner participants for more than $212 million, then leased it back.
        Albion, in the southeast quadrant of the state, will be home to a $30-million expansion by filter manufacturer Champion Laboratories, founded by Howard Gaither in nearby West Salem, Ill., in 1955.
        In addition to trying to lure the city of St. Louis' beloved Cardinals baseball franchise, Illinois officials are by and large helping to shift to the east city founder Pierre LaClede's vision of the city as a distribution center. In the state's southwest portion sits TriStar Business Communities' 2,300-acre (931-hectare) Gateway Commerce Center. TriStar partnered with Rockefeller Group Development Corp. to establish a foreign trade zone at Gateway, where enough open space exists to accommodate 1-million-sq.-ft. (92,900-sq.-m.) projects. In addition to the 4.7 million sq. ft. (436,630 sq. m.) of distribution and assembly space already there, the park will soon be the site of another giant Unilever Home and Personal Care leased warehouse at Pontoon Beach. The $50-million project, expected to employ 350 on its 1.26 million sq. ft. (117,054 sq. m.), is being built by Prologis. Lanter Co., Dial Corp. and Procter & Gamble are a few other companies with large leased distribution operations at the center.