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COVER STORY, NOVEMBER 2008
MIDWEST BUSINESS PARK SPOTLIGHT
NorthPark
St. Louis, Missouri
Developer: NorthPark Partners LLC
( A Clayco/McEagle Joint Venture)
Located at the interchange of Interstates 70 and 170 in the airport submarket of St. Louis County, NorthPark is a multi-use business park with the potential to accommodate appoximately 5 million square feet of office, light industrial and retail space over 550 acres.
Chad Richardson, director of sales and marketing for NorthPark Partners LLC, a Clayco/McEagle joint venture, believes the park’s advantages — location, technology and partnership — are what sets this mixed-use development apart from others.
“NorthPark is ideally situated to allow easy access to major Midwestern transportation paths, including Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, I-70 and I-170,” Richardson says. “Also, two MetroLink stations will be built within NorthPark, offering potential employees the option of taking the MetroLink transit system into work.”
Because of its infrastructure and state-of-the-art amenities, NorthPark has the capability to support the most demanding technological needs. The new technological infrastructure includes a fiber ring, which is capable of sustaining the entire mixed-use development. In addition, there are plans to include two new electric substations with Ameren UE, provider of electrical services to more than 2.4 million Missouri and Illinois users.
“Solid partnerships have been key to the success of NorthPark,” Richardson explains. “From the partnership of McEagle and Clayco that formed the NorthPark Partners to the cooperation of the towns of Berkeley, Ferguson and Kinloch, along with St. Louis County, these partnerships allow NorthPark Partners and the community to serve tenants to the best of our abilities.”
NorthPark is one of the largest land redevelopments in the region — the largest in St. Louis County’s history — and is considered the flagship development for the area. Phase I is well underway, with a collection of office and industrial users, as well as a 136-room Hilton Garden Inn. Tenants include Express Scripts, which has moved into its LEED-Certified, 320,000-square-foot corporate headquarters. A second phase will add 181,000 square feet for the tenant by the end of the year. Also in Phase I is Vatterot College’s national headquarters, which totals 90,000 square feet, and Corporate Express, which occupies 30,000 square feet within NorthPark Business Center One, a 121,253-square-foot light industrial building. A 150,000-square-foot sustainable office building is also underway in Phase I for High Performance Office Design.
Phase II is currently undergoing excavation and grading, and will span 223 acres when complete. The development will be fully built out over 15 to 20 years. The project is expected to cost approximately $400 million while generating an estimated 12,000 new jobs for the market.
Huntington Woods Corporate Center
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Developer: McShane Development Company
“Huntington Woods Corporate Center will comprise approximately 1 million square feet of new development at completion, encompassing more 70 acres of Class A corporate business space,” says Daniel Fogarty Jr., vice president of McShane Development.
The project is located at Interstate 90 at Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates, on acreage that fronts I-90 and is situated adjacent to AT&T’s regional headquarters facility.
Huntington Woods Corporate Center is a co-development of McShane Development and MetLife Real Estate Investments. The business park offers amenities that are unique in Chicagoland, including a central lake with adjacent ponds, unparalleled trees and vegetation, miles of walking paths attached to the adjacent 1,500-acre Paul Douglas Forest Preserve, and immediate access to and visibility from Interstate 90.
“Huntington Woods Corporate Center is located 20 minutes from O’Hare International Airport and 45 minutes from Chicago’s central business district, and embodies the characteristics, amenities and location that are sought by corporate headquarters relocations,” Fogarty says.
The McShane/MetLife co-development team acquired the 70-acre site from AT&T for $18.5 million in June. To date, the park has begun two new corporate headquarters projects — Mori Seiki U.S.A. Inc. and the land sale to BIG Kaiser. There are 59 acres that remain available for lease or for sale. Mori Seiki’s facility will be the firm’s North, Central and South American headquarters and showroom facility. BIG Kaiser Precision Tool plans to complete a 30,000-square-foot facility on a 3-acre parcel adjacent to Mori Seiki.
It’s anticipated that the new business park will be completely developed within 3 to 5 years. The entire business park will be developed on a build-to-suit basis and as such will take place as contracts are executed with firms that are seeking new build-to-suit facilities. The park can accommodate approximately seven to ten new facilities depending upon the size of each project and will be developed in several phases.
Axcess70
Mt. Comfort, Indiana
Developer: Browning Investments
Under development at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Mt. Comfort Road, Axcess 70 is a $90 million, two-phase business park endeavor taking shape outside of Indianapolis in Mt. Comfort. The first phase is expected to be complete in March, with the second phase comprising build-to-suit and land development deals. The park can accommodate a single building of up to 1.3 million square feet. In total, the 153-acre park can facilitate more than 2 million square feet of product. Plans for the first two speculative distribution facilities have been made, according to Dale Pfeifer, director of real estate development for developer Browning Investments.
The Indianapolis-based developer, in a joint venture with New York-based Real Estate Capital Partners, has plans to break ground on two industrial facilities within Axcess70. Browning Construction Inc. will begin building two facilities this month, with completion expected for March. The first 423,000-square-foot building will include 32-foot clear-height ceilings and T5 Fluorescent Lighting; the second 250,000-square-foot facility will include 28-foot clear-height ceilings and an ESFR sprinkler system. Browning Construction Inc. will also complete construction of a third facility, which will be expandable to 1.3 million square feet. The estimated cost of construction was not disclosed.
Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant
Racine County, Wisconsin
Developer: HSA Commercial
HSA Commercial is developing Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant, a 90-acre business park in southern Wisconsin along the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor in Racine County. The park is situated along International Drive and Highway 20, approximately 15 miles from the Illinois border. Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant is being developed within a tax improvement district that is part of a 950-acre development zone, which will include office, light industrial, R&D, hotel and retail space. The park offers access to two Interstate 94 interchanges, as well as rail connections.
The first two facilities within the park broke ground in September, including the region’s first LEED-Certified warehouse. The 323,610-square-foot warehouse is expandable to approximately 664,000 square feet, and features 30-footclear ceiling heights, 40 docks and an expandable 80-trailer parking area. The second building will comprise 125,000 square feet, with 30-foot ceilings and 21 docks. In total Park 94 at Mt. Pleasant can accommodate up to seven or eight buildings.
David Bercu and David Liebman of Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler are the leasing representatives for the project, and Berghammer Construction is serving as the general contractor.
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