Demolition Begins for Kenosha Commerce Center

CHICAGO—Demolition has begun on the former Dairyland Greyhound Dog Track in Kenosha, WI to make way for the Kenosha Commerce Center. This 214-acre industrial business park will deliver in early 2020.

“The location of KCC is absolutely unparalleled,” said Brett Kroner of Cushman & Wakefield, who represents the property owner. “Future occupants will have access to more than 150 intermodal facilities in the surrounding area and will also be within easy reach of 50% of the US population within a day’s truck delivery and 75% of the populace within a two day’s truck delivery.”

KCC is located directly across the street from the Kenosha Regional Airport, and is 30 minutes from General Mitchell International Airport and 45 minutes from O’Hare International Airport.

The industrial site is expected to be a boon to the southeastern Wisconsin economy as it joins Foxconn’s new North American manufacturing campus as well as industrial space occupied by Amazon and SC Johnson.

“The new park will be important and critical to southeastern Wisconsin because it will undoubtedly attract new industries which in turn brings thousands of new jobs to this corner of the state,” Kroner said.

Demolition will complete in April 2019, with space becoming available for development and construction of build-to-suit leases and purchases by early 2020. The site can accommodate buildings of up to 1.8 million square feet.

According to reports, in September 2017, Majestic Realty Co. purchased former greyhound track for $14.5 million. The property had been vacant since 2009. Dakota Intertek Corp. has been hired as the demolition subcontractor for the kennel and grandstand areas.

No future occupants have been announced yet. But Kroner said, “There is abundant skilled labor and a diverse business population within a 20-mile radius making the site an ideal location for distribution, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies.”

Majestic Realty is not stranger to the industrial market here. The company is currently developing The Badger Logistics Center, an 88-acre, industrial site located in nearby Pleasant Prairie, WI. According to the company website, the site plans include single building space up to 800,000 square feet, with plans for the construction of two buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet.

In February of 2018, Majestic Realty inked its first lease for the space – CTDI, a global engineering, repair and logistics company, inked a long-term lease for 166,620 square feet of the 424,164-square-foot Building #1.

At the time, Majestic Vice President Taylor Talt said in a statement, “While Badger represents our first Wisconsin project to be developed, we’re excited to officially have our flag flying in this region and see this project as a stepping stone for our future growth plans in the Midwest market. We see this at the first of many projects that we are considering in the state as a result of the positive and highly professional experience we’ve had working with local and state officials.”