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Carol Stream board to consider plans for speculative warehouse

Carol Stream trustees next month could approve plans by developers to build a warehouse even before the real estate firm determines how many tenants would move into the sprawling facility.

Such a speculative project - the second of its kind on a busy strip of North Avenue - could indicate a strong demand for newly constructed, industrial space in a village that already has more than 20 million square feet of it.

But some residents have raised concerns about truck traffic generated by the development at the northeast corner of Kuhn Road and North Avenue. Without knowing what types of businesses would use the warehouse, village planners acknowledge it's difficult to pinpoint the amount of traffic connected to the 192,668-square-foot building.

To address those concerns, staffers are preparing a provision in draft ordinances for the project that would call for installing signs to help prevent right turns out of the site to north Kuhn Road. Still, truck drivers are expected to exit the property from McNees Drive and head south on Kuhn to North Avenue, a six-lane thoroughfare.

More than 1,100 square feet separates the site from the closest homes to the northwest. To the northeast, the nearest homes are about 700 feet away, according to a village report to plan commissioners.

"Most likely, just by default so to speak, the truck traffic will probably go south, versus north into the residential area," said Tom Farace, the village's planning and economic development manager.

The Missner Group has reached contracts to buy two vacant lots to make way for the development south of the village's Water Reclamation Center. The sales would be finalized if the Des Plaines firm secured zoning approvals. One of the lots spans about 12 acres and sits within the village's boundaries.

Missner is requesting that the board agree to annex the smaller, triangular-shaped lot, into Carol Stream. Trustees could vote to approve the annexation agreement and zoning ordinances at a meeting Aug. 7. The plan commission has issued a recommendation to the board in favor of the project.

Less than two miles away, construction continues on a nearly 400,000-square-foot warehousing building at 365 E. North Ave. Dermody Properties, a firm based in Reno, Nevada, also has not yet locked in a tenant for the facility.

That speculative project was highlighted in a report by Colliers International, a Seattle company that tracks real estate trends. At the end of 2016, the industrial vacancy rate in central DuPage County stood at 6.19 percent, one of the lowest recorded for that submarket, Colliers found.

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