Developer proposes warehouse in Carol Stream
A Des Plaines developer's proposal to build an industrial warehouse in Carol Stream without a specific tenant in mind could become the second such speculative project taking shape near North Avenue.
The Missner Group has not formally applied for zoning approval, but has approached the village about building a 160,000-square-foot warehouse on 12 acres near the northeast corner of North Avenue and Kuhn Road.
Less than two miles away, another developer has secured a village demolition permit to tear down a 230,241-square-foot building previously occupied by Affordable Office Interiors at 365 E. North Ave.
In its place, Dermody Properties plans to construct a 381,000-square-foot building, again without a business or multiple users lined up. About 5 percent of the new building will be reserved for offices and the rest set aside for warehousing.
The firm, based in Reno, Nevada, hopes to raze the existing building "as soon as possible" and prepare the site for the new one, said Tom Farace, village planning and economic development manager. At the earliest, construction of the warehouse could begin next spring.
"Given the market for industrial space right now, I think these larger buildings can get snapped up pretty quickly," Farace said Tuesday.
The Missner Group has indicated it would submit plans for its warehouse for village review this fall.
The building would sit just south of a proposed drop-off facility for landscape waste, but the latter project has been held up by a series of delays.
Trustees this summer told village staff members to renegotiate some of the terms of its lease with Organic Soils Inc., the company that would operate the facility on village-owned land near the entrance of the Carol Stream water reclamation center off Kuhn Road.
The draft amendment calls for construction to start by May 1, and operations by Oct. 2, 2017, Village Manager Joe Breinig said in an email. The village expects to receive a response from Organic Soils on the proposed changes to the lease next month.
The two sides signed the agreement two years ago. Both independent contractors and waste haulers serving Carol Stream and its neighbors would unload landscape materials at the site. Then trailers would pick up the landscape waste and drive to a composting facility in Bristol, Illinois.
The village's special-use permit originally spelled out that construction start within 18 months. As that deadline approached, the village wrote a letter to Organic Soils last January asking about the status of the project and cautioned that the board could move to terminate the permit.
Organic Soils requested more time, and the board agreed to move the deadline to July 31.
The company later asked the village board to grant a second extension for the deadline to begin construction as it works to obtain permits and other approvals from state and federal agencies.