Duchossois spends about $18m on 4 Oak Brook buildings
Officials from Elmhurst-based Duchossois Real Estate LLC said Friday they have acquired four buildings in Oak Brook and plan to turn them into corporate office space.
Duchossois finalized two transactions on March 31. One deal includes three buildings on Windsor Road for a total of about $10.2 million. The second deal is the former Follett building on Swift Road purchased for about $7.7 million. Follett, a college bookstore and an online educational firm, has moved to Westchester.
The real estate group is a division of the Duchossois Group Inc., known for a an array of investments and owner of Arlington International Racecourse.
“The search was purposely made in the western suburbs to demonstrate the Duchossois family commitment to the area and to be near The Duchossois Group and The Chamberlain Group,” said company spokeswoman Emily Davis. The well known suburban Duchossois family also owns garage door opener company Chamberlain Group.
Davis said it wasn't clear yet if any portion of the company would move into the Oak Brook buildings. They are awaiting proposed plans from national design firm SmithGroup JJR, which has been named the architect for the project.
SmithGroup in Chicago is expected to provide the proposal within the next six months. A state-of-the-art facility is expected to be built on the Swift Road site by 2016. Duchossois aims to build out a total of about 200,000 square feet for use as corporate office space.
The company said the new corporate offices will complement a recently opened Innovation and Design Center in Elmhurst, currently leased to The Chamberlain Group, Davis said.
The Duchossois Group is privately-held and also includes companies with leading brands in access control, residential and commercial security, lighting, commercial control, automation and digital media. The group's companies have more than 5,000 employees worldwide with operations in about 30 countries.
“We believe Oak Brook is an ideal location to build,” Craig Duchossois, chief executive officer of The Duchossois Group, said in a statement. “Our goal is to provide growth oriented companies with an environment designed to maximize collaboration and drive innovation.”