Old Elk Grove office complex to make way for big trucking center
A 1980s-era business campus of eight single-story brick buildings in Elk Grove Village is set to be demolished to make way for a much larger logistics and trucking center.
Developer Burnham Fortune LLC says the aging 16-acre industrial park on Howard Street east of Busse Road is “functionally obsolete for modern industrial purposes,” with a scattered and inefficient configuration of buildings, small footprints, more office than warehouse space, and clear building heights of only 16 feet.
Businesses today increasingly require larger buildings, more efficient and functional floor plates, smaller offices, and clear heights of at least 30 feet, the developer said.
So it's proposing to demolish all eight buildings, which range in size from about 17,000 square feet to nearly 47,000 square feet, and construct a one-story speculative industrial building of 312,482 square feet. It would have 71 truck trailer stalls, 262 regular parking spaces, and nearly 7,000 square feet of office space, according to a project description.
The proposed $40.5 million redevelopment would bring 150 to 200 permanent jobs to the site and create 190 temporary construction jobs, officials said.
Site upgrades would include extensive use of glass and decorative metal panel building facade, a 200-foot screening wall to shield views of trailer parking from the street, a pond and monument feature along Busse Road, and underground stormwater facilities.
Chicago-based Burnham Fortune is controlled by Ron Gidwitz, a former ambassador to Belgium in the Trump administration, one-time Republican candidate for Illinois governor, GOP financier, and businessman who once headed Helene Curtis.
The firm requested and received the Elk Grove Village board's endorsement of a Cook County Class 6B property tax abatement, which would allow the property to be assessed at lower levels over a dozen years: at 10% of market value for the first decade, then 15% in the 11th year and 20% in the 12th year. Industrial property is normally assessed at 25%.
In its village application, the developer wrote that the project wouldn't generate a reasonable return on investment, be financially feasible or be able to go forward without the tax break. Final approval is still pending a vote by county commissioners.
The site, which is configured around the Howard Street right of way and dead ends into a cul-de-sac, is occupied by various small-scale light industrial manufacturers. That includes a pharmaceutical company, human resources benefits and payroll firm, glass and metal subcontractor, wine sampling business, painting contractor, and vending company, among others. The business campus is currently 69% leased, but all leases are due to expire by Oct. 31, officials said.