CenterPoint Venture was attracted to the properties by their locations near interstate highways and airports. The purchases included:·Three buildings totaling 574,156 sf in Elgin, IL, leased to R.R. Donnelly, Exel Logistics and Chep USA.·A 163,420-sf building in Aurora, IL, leased to Exel Direct, Inc.·A 150,128-sf building in Pleasant Prairie, WI, leased to Nucon Corp.·A 102,963-sf building in New Berlin, WI, leased to Home Care Medical and Schroeder Moving Systems.·A 94,403-sf building in Pewaukee, WI, leased to UPS Worldwide Logistics and DexM Corp.The business parks that CenterPoint Venture and Wispark will jointly develop are the Northwest Corporate Park in Elgin, Lakeview Corporate Park in Pleasant Prairie and Grandview Business Park in Yorkville, WI. Wispark, which is owned by Wisconsin Energy Corp., will retain ownership of the three business parks, which total 550 acres and have the potential to see 8 million sf of industrial buildings.

The purchases increase CenterPoint Venture's Wisconsin holdings to nearly 3 million sf, up from 2 million sf. Centerpoint Venture LLC is a partnership between REIT CenterPoint Properties Trust, the largest industrial property company in the Chicago market with 31 million sf, as well as the California Public Employees Retirement System and LaSalle Investment Management. CenterPoint Venture's portfolio has grown to 2.4 million sf in just one year of operation.

"Our partnership with CalPERS and LaSalle Investment Management was formed to acquire or develop institutional quality assets in strategic locations," explained Matt Mullarkey, investment officer for CenterPoint.