Property Types Industrial
ProLogis Inks Deal for BTS Facility near Chicago
June 17, 2008
By: Dees Stribling, Contributing Correspondent

Industrial property behemoth ProLogis has inked a deal with Bay Valley Foods, a specialist in private label food products, to develop a 600,000-square-foot distribution center for the company in Rochelle, Ill. Bay Valley will use the building primarily as a warehouse and distribution center for its products, as well as for packaging and labeling canned soup products.

The built-to-suit property for Valley Foods will be located in ProLogis Park Rochelle, a 300-acre business park located at the junction of I-88 and I-39. Rochelle, about 75 miles west of Chicago, is already a major distribution hub. Besides the meeting of interstates, the BNSF and UP railroad lines cross in Rochelle, and the UP has an intermodal facility in the area.

The new distribution center will be built according US Green Building Council guidelines for LEED certification. Among other sustainable design and construction features, it will incorporate the use of recycled and locally sourced construction materials, and the installation of an energy-efficient fluorescent lighting system.

"As of January 1 this year, all our new buildings in the United States will be submitted for LEED certification," Drew Torbin, manager of sustainability at ProLogis, told CPN this afternoon. "Thus far, there haven't been that many LEED-certified industrial buildings, but a big wave is coming, because they're getting good results. We've won business because of our experience in developing LEED-certified buildings."

The Bay Valley Foods BTS facility will be the second building at ProLogis Park Rochelle. At full build out, according to the Denver-based REIT, the park will comprise about 4 million square feet and 10 distribution facilities. Other customers at the park include Del Monte and Clark Steel.

 
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