chi-1881normantown (4) 1881 Normantown Rd. in Romeoville, IL.

CHICAGO—Apollo Flow Controls has just decided to occupy one of the Chicago region’s recently-built spec buildings. The company will relocate its regional distribution operation to 1881 Normantown Rd. in suburban Romeoville. Molto Capital owns the property, which was developed by Molto in 2016.

Molto recently finished a number of specs in the I-55 industrial submarket, and this new lease continues what has been a successful run. In September of 2014, for example, HellermannTyton leased the full 189,662 square foot property at 1485 Normantown Rd. It occupied the facility in February 2015. And in late 2015, Impro Industries signed a 58,800 square foot lease at 1055 Remington Blvd. in Bolingbrook. Baldor Motor agreed to occupy the rest of the 116,000 square foot building.  

Cushman & Wakefield’s Britt Casey, Chris Lydon and Al Caruana represent Apollo with its real estate activities nationwide. The Rosemont, IL-based team has orchestrated a national roll out of four regional distribution centers of similar size in Reno, Orlando, and Pittston, PA for the company over the past year, including the long-term commitment in Romeoville. Jim Estus from Colliers International served as representative for Molto.

An Aalberts Industries company, Apollo Flow Controls produces and sells flow control products in commercial and industrial markets. It has operations across the US with manufacturing in NC, SC, IN, AK, and TN.

“Apollo Flow Controls ultimately selected the Molto property due to several factors including location, size, new construction status and I-55 frontage,” Casey says. “This lease concludes an 18-month effort on behalf of the client working along with our partners at the St. Onge Co. We effectively revamped the national distribution footprint for Apollo.”

Demand in the Chicago industrial market shows no signs of slowing in 2017, according to C&W research. The firm is tracking tenants looking for roughly 20 million square feet of industrial space, indicating market fundamentals such as leasing activity and absorption will further improve in coming months.