NAPERVILLE, IL-Construction has begun on the 270,000-sf Springbrook Prairie Pavilion, at 75th Street & Fort Hill Dr. The retail center is being developed by Bond Cos., with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles, and Hinsdale, IL-based MDC Properties. The estimated cost of the project is approximately $64 million, says Rob Bond, president of Bond Cos.

The development is being constructed on a 27-acre parcel at the northwest corner of 75th Street and Fort Hill Drive. Bond Cos. had been looking in Naperville for a suitable location for Whole Foods, which was the first anchor the developer secured and will lease 50,043 sf at the retail center, Bond says. “We had to find them a key location which gave them proper positioning with their Wheaton store,” he says. Bond Cos. liked the location because it is near Route 59, Interstate 355 and Ogden Avenue.

The center is currently between 60% and 70% preleased, Bond tells GlobeSt.com. Besides Whole Foods, tenants at the center will include Loehmann's, Cost Plus World Market, HomeGoods and Buffalo Wild Wings. Nordstrom Inc. recently signed a lease for 37,271 sf for a Nordstrom Rack store. A sporting goods store will also be a tenant at the retail center, but Bond said he could not disclose the company at this time, except to say that it is a running and active lifestyle store. The asking lease rate for the smaller retail spaces is between $25 per sf and $45 per sf, net, Bond says. Bank of America and Chase both have ground leases for out-parcels on the site. Bond says they have tried to have retailers that are “not in the trade area currently” and that bring a sense of “uniqueness” to the center. “We have tried to merchandise this in terms of looking at holes in the marketplace,” he says. “There is no dearth of retail along Route 59 in Naperville.”

A central plaza is also being constructed that will be used for local events and entertainment. The plaza acts as a traffic calming measure and also will “create a gathering place,” he says. The developers are currently speaking to a group to have a farmers market on the site. The joint venture currently plans to have the entire development be retail space, but it is possible that there will be some medical office or general office space as well, Bond says. The center is scheduled to open in the summer of 2008.

The development will have environmentally-friendly features such as permeable pavers, bike racks, a reflective roof, water-efficient landscaping, an onsite water management system and a heating, ventilation and air condition system that meets requirements for LEED certification, Bond tells GlobeSt.com. The developers are also recycling steel and paving content, he says. Stewart-Noskey Architects is the architect for the project and Weis Builders is the general contractor.

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Bond, MDC Begin Work on $64M Retail Center

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