RANTOUL, IL-Sports equipment manufacturer Easton-Bell Sports Inc. signed a lease for an 813,126-square-foot, build-to-suit distribution, assembly and shared-services center. The facility broke ground during the past week, following a year-long site selection and facility planning process.

According to a press release about the transaction, Easton-Bell's facility is situated on 27 acres at 1001 Innovation Dr., within the 400-acre Village Industrial Park. The park itself is at the northwest intersection of State Highway 136 and Interstate 57. Easton-Bell, headquartered in Van Nuys, CA, operates multiple manufacturing and distribution facilities in Rantoul. The new facility will consolidate these operations.  

Brendan Kelly and Suzanne Serino, principals with Avison Young in Chicago, represented Easton-Bell Sports in multiple facets of the transaction. Developer Janko Group is building the facility, while Peak Construction is the general contractor. Others involved in the project include Heitman Technologies (which is responsible for architecture and facility planning); Numina Group (process improvement) and Competitive Insights (strategic supply-chain consulting.)

“Easton-Bell Sports has been a great corporate citizen in Rantoul for more than three decades,” comments Kelly in a press release. “The company completed a comprehensive search nationwide and ultimately chose Rantoul for Easton-Bell Sports’ new facility due to the company’s dedicated local workforce and strong support from the Village of Rantoul and State of Illinois.”

Easton-Bell Sports’ shared services center is designed to meet LEED certification standards. The facility will include approximately 33,000 square feet of office space and 780,000 square feet of light-assembly and distribution center space. The distribution space will feature 36-foot-clear ceiling heights, 50-by-60-foot bay spacing, and land that can accommodate future growth of up to 428,000 square feet of building expansion.