FEATURE ARTICLE, JANUARY 2008

INDIANA JONESIN’ FOR REAL ESTATE EXPANSION
The Northwest Indiana real estate market is primed to capitalize on Chicagoland’s continued outward expansion.
Kevin Jeselnik

The Northwest Indiana region is in the midst of a dramatic period of growth, primarily spurred by the continued expansion of the Chicagoland trade area into new regions west, and now southeast, of the city. This growing metropolitan market has expanded into the cluster of cities that comprise Northwest Indiana, which is bordered on the north by prime Lake Michigan waterfront.

The region has certainly noticed the increased interest from commercial real estate developers, as well as retail, industrial and office users, and is taking steps to facilitate and encourage development and business expansion. According to Don Koliboski, director of economic development for the Northwest Indiana Forum, the focus in 2007 was on growth in the transportation, distribution and logistics sector, as the region is seeking to capitalize on the area’s strength as an industrial and intermodal hub.

“Our location, just east of Chicagoland, of which we are really now a part, has lead us to focus on warehousing and transportation of late,” says Koliboski. “Our Ameriplex at the Port development, which is a Holladay Properties project, is growing very fast.”

TCB Development and Chicago-based Tobin Development have partnered to build the 574,249-square-foot Midpoint USA industrial facility in the Ameriplex at the Port in Portage.

Ameriplex at the Port, located along Interstate 94, near the Interstate 80/90 interchange, recently added Bass Pro Shops to the development, and is occupied by industrial tenants such as Daimler Chrysler, Mitsubishi Generator Sales and Services, Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Exel Logistics. The newest development underway within the park is the 54-acre, 574,249-square-foot facility from TCB Development and Tobin Development. The project, MidPoint USA, is expandable to 1 million square feet and will be ready for occupancy in the spring.

Another park that is seeing a lot of activity is NorthWind Crossing in Hobart, Indiana. Hanson Logistics completed its 125,000-square-foot Chicago Consolidation Center in fall 2007 on a 21-acre site within the Becknell Development park.

The Shops at Lakeshore, from Holladay Properties, will total 750,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and hotel space along Lake Michigan and I-94 in Portage.

The draw for a lot of industrial users is in the numbers. “We market to Chicagoland users because of our proximity to that market and our access to major highways,” Koliboski notes. “We have a lot of interest from users from Cook County, Illinois; we believe it is because of the difference in what they can get here for their per square foot lease prices. We are a 20-minute drive to Chicago, with much less traffic than what is found on the west side of the market.”

Oak Street Commons is an $80 million, 600,000-square-foot lifestyle center underway in the city of Schererville in Northwest Indiana.

While the industrial sector grows, retail development is already in full swing. The Shops at Lakeshore is a 750,000-square-foot mixed-use center underway in Portage near I-94 and the lakefront. The Holladay Properties center will feature a mix of shops, restaurants and hotels. Oak Street Commons, from Highland, Indiana-based Precision Development, is an $80 million, 600,000-square-foot lifestyle center that will be located on U.S. Highway 41 in Schereville, Indiana. The center is adjacent to the existing Omni Health & Fitness Connection complex. Lauth’s Porter’s Vale development, a 750,000-square-foot shopping center located in Valparaiso, Indiana, is scheduled to be complete by mid-2009.

Precision Develompent’s $80 million Oak Street Commons lifestyle center, underway in Schererville, will total 600,000 square feet of retail when complete.

This extensive commercial development, along with the Market Greenway Plan, which is a plan to reinvigorate the lakefront all the way from Illinois to Michigan, will change the look and the feel of the entire Northwest Indiana region. With a cooperative effort from the state government, the Northwest Indiana Forum, the Regional Development Association, which is raising funds for many projects, and the Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, there is a groundswell of support actively working to better the region and establish it as a major Midwest market in the very near future.

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