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New building at long vacant Libertyville property to house pharmaceutical firm

A new building at the long dormant Libertyville Corporate Center is in the works.

PharmaLogistics Ltd. has proposed a 126,611-square-foot office/warehouse/distribution facility on roughly 10 acres in the park at the southwest corner of Butterfield Road and Route 137.

Village officials recently approved changes to the plan for the 38.6-acre site to allow the building to be constructed 48 feet south to accommodate parking.

PharmaLogistics and NuWave LLC occupy a three-story office building at 1795 N. Butterfield Road, and NuWave has a warehouse/distribution center next door at 1755 N. Butterfield Road.

An agreement with the former property owner allowed for two more buildings, but the balance of the property has remained vacant. A condition requiring trucks over 12,000 pounds to turn north from a new entrance built several years ago to avoid residential areas will remain in place for the site in perpetuity.

PharmaLogistics' core business is "reverse distribution" of non-dispensed, expired pharmaceutical products, according to information provided to the village by President and CEO Michael Zaccaro.

The company cleans expired goods, with waste handled elsewhere, at approved recycling and waste facilities, he said. Customers include hospitals, independent retailers and the federal Department of Defense, according to Zaccaro.

Forty employees work in the Libertyville building and 80 at another facility in Mundelein. The new building would house 120 employees to start, with a target to grow the workforce to 220, he informed the village.

The village's plan commission concurred with the site plan change and approved the request 7-0. The appearance review commission by a 5-0 vote approved the application for new building faces, landscaping and lighting at the site.

In November 2008, the village settled a lawsuit with Ashley Libertyville LLC and approved an overall concept and final plan for the property. The agreement called for Ashley to begin development within three years.

That condition was extended twice in 2011 and 2014 because of a downturn in the commercial real estate market.

It was extended again in 2017 on the request of STAG Industrial TRS LLC, which acquired the property from Ashley.

Seth A. Malamut, associate general counsel and vice president of the Boston-based company, told village officials the company's intent was to sell the vacant properties for development and thought that would happen within three years.

"It's not in our best interest to have it sitting there undeveloped," village Trustee Donna Johnson said at the time.

  PharmaLogistics wants to build an office/warehouse/distribution center on this property at the Libertyville Corporate Center at Butterfield Road and Route 137. Mick Zawislak/mzawislak@dailyherald.com
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