Work begins on 147-acre business park in Algonquin
Work is underway on an industrial and commercial campus in Algonquin that would be the first of its kind in the village, officials say.
The Algonquin Corporate Campus, overseen by Kansas City-based NorthPoint Development, will sit south of Longmeadow Parkway between Huntley and Randall roads, and could create between 500 and 1,000 permanent jobs, village Community Development Director Jason Shallcross said.
The development, when complete, will include five buildings totaling 1.6 million square feet on the 147-acre site, according to village documents.
Algonquin has been looking to build a business park for more than 20 years, Village President Debby Sosine said.
"I think NorthPoint is a great project for Algonquin," Sosine said. "Working with NorthPoint has been awesome. All of our staff has been really good, and the board has unanimously approved everything every step of the way. We are really excited for this to start."
Trustee Jerry Glogowski, who has been on the village board since 2005, said adding light industrial or other kinds of economic development is a great move for Algonquin.
"I'm always in favor of this type of project," Glogowski said. "We need more job growth. Retail can only provide so much income. You need bigger projects. There are blue collar jobs that pay well, and I think this will bring some good-paying jobs into our community. We need that."
This will be NorthPoint's first project in Kane County and third in the region, joining Heartland 94 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Commerce Park Chicago on the far South Side along the Calumet River, NorthPoint development manager David Salinas said.
Tenants are not yet officially lined up, but the goal is for the park to be for mixed-use purposes, NorthPoint representatives said. The project's brokerage firm, CBRE, is actively marketing the development.
A groundbreaking event has been scheduled for June 9, and the first phase of the project is expected to be complete by the end of the year, with tenants leasing the space before construction is finished the representatives said.
As of last week, site fencing was being installed in preparation for site grading for the first two buildings, which will be 470,000 and 250,000 square feet, respectively, Shallcross said.
Site plans were presented to the village board in June, and a tax increment financing district - a type of special taxing district to spur development - was established for the site at the end of last year to address chronic flooding and to develop other public infrastructure improvements, according to the village.
"We are grateful for the opportunity to join the Algonquin community," said Brent Miles, NorthPoint's chief marketing officer. "This will further strengthen the short- and long-term economy through both direct and indirect job creation, as well as generating tax revenue at the state and local level."
Some potential uses for the site include an e-commerce park, business headquarters or light manufacturing, NorthPoint representatives said. The site was selected by NorthPoint because of its location within the Randall Road and Interstate 90 corridors, Salinas said.
The site ultimately will have five buildings. The final site plan document also shows green space throughout the campus, as well as a retail parcel along Randall Road.
Trustee Bob Smith said one aspect of the project he particularly liked is that NorthPoint will be managing the property, not just building the facilities. He said that means the company will be fully invested in the project's success.