"When Jays moved out, we thought about how to reoccupy thebuildings," says Daniel Lukas, a principal with StructuredDevelopment. "We thought it made the most sense to break it intosmaller units for smaller tenants rather than finding another largeuser. The property has great visibility to the highway with 150,000cars passing each day."

The building was bought for around $2 million in 2005 byStructured, which bought the plant from Jays in a sale-leasebackarrangement, according to Lukas. "We've been working on rehabbingthe building, dividing the spaces up and bringing them up tocurrent code," Lukas tells GlobeSt.com. "The plant was built in the1950s and nothing had been done to it since then, so we've beenupgrading the AC, electrical and fire systems and bringingeverything up to standards."

Jones Lang LaSalle has been marketing the space. Lukas declinedto comment on the lease rates for the space, but said they werecompetitive with other rates in the area. The plant is located inthe far south side of the city, where asking lease rates range fromaround $4 to $8 per square foot, net, according to Cushman &Wakefield market research. "There's not a lot of vacancy on thesouth side of Chicago," Lukas says. "There's still a pretty strongdemand for 20,000-square-foot to 30,000-square-footusers."Structured Development also owns another building alsovacated by Jays - a 110,000-square-foot facility at 1001 E. 99thSt. on the same 14-acre property. That building is currentlyvacant, but Lukas says there are several parties interested inleasing it. "There's access to the highways and a good solidworkforce with strong residential neighborhoods just to the northand south of the property, so employees can walk to work," Lukassays.