The project, called the Deer Run Industrial Park, the will beone of the nationÕs largest private developments and, as aSuperfund site, one of the largest brownfield initiatives.CenterPoint plans to build as much as 17 million sf of distributionand manufacturing space in an industrial park adjacent to a newintermodal rail yard to be operated by the Burlington Northern andSanta Fe Railway Co. All together, Deer Run will occupy 2,242acres.

"This was a remarkably complicated process," Mike Mullen,CenterPoint COO, told GlobeSt.com. "But considering all thedifferent agencies we had to work with, and the countless obstaclesto overcome, the process went well. Now we can do what we do bestat this site, namely develop industrial property."

A keystone of the entire project is the intermodal railfacility. Chicago, as railroad nexus of the United States, isalready the transit hub of the nation for intermodal containershipping. The new facility will reenforce ChicagoÕs preeminence inthat field, and attract distribution companies to the Deer Runcomplex. "The opportunity to locate close a major [intermodal]distribution complex will be a powerful incentive formanufacturers, warehousers, food processors and other customers offreight transportation to be within the park," says Mullen.