Redevelopment of Weber-Stephen site in Palatine gets first tenant
Palatine's confidence in the future of the warehousing industry is paying dividends with the addition of a new anchor tenant at the 428,431-square-foot Palatine Corporate Center.
Chicago-based S&C Electric Co., a global provider of equipment and services for electric power distribution systems, is expanding to occupy 275,388 square feet on the Sellstrom Drive site that once was home to a Weber-Stephen Products facility.
"This expansion strengthens our commitment to U.S. manufacturing and the Chicagoland area, allowing us to better serve customers with solutions that advance a resilient, intelligent electrical grid," said Anders Sjoelin, president and CEO of S&C, which has called Chicago its home for 110 years.
Oak Brook-based Midwest Industrial Funds, which bought the property from Weber in 2020, received approval in 2021 to redevelop the site with two industrial buildings.
"We are very pleased to anchor this high-profile redevelopment with a great tenant like S&C," said Justin Fierz, a principal with Midwest Industrial Funds. "It really validates the end user vision we had for this exciting project we put under contract just before the start of the pandemic."
Fierz described hs firm as being "particularly picky" when choosing a first and anchor tenant for one of its projects.
"It sets the table for the whole development," he said.
At his State of the Village address in March, Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz singled out the village's warehouses as an area of economic growth.
"If you talk about the home run being a car dealership, this is more like a double or a triple," he said.
The corporate center, an Amazon warehouse and an ongoing warehouse development next to St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum are expected to generate tax revenue of about $6.4 million a year, officials said.
S&C will occupy the building at 200 Sellstrom Drive, while an adjacent 153,043-square-foot building at 150 Sellstrom Avenue is also being marketed.
"There are probably two or three other projects nearby that are there because of the momentum that Midwest created at this site," said Sam Durkin of he real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
S&C officials say the expanded operation will create about 200 production and engineering jobs. Full occupancy and production start up are expected in early 2024.