Saddle Creek Leases at CenterPoint Intermodal

ELWOOD, IL-Saddle Creek Corp., a third-party logistics firm, has agreed to lease 415,800 square feet in a 1.2-million-square-foot building at CenterPoint Intermodal Center here. The 10-million-square-foot industrial park is about 96% leased, according to officials with NAI Hiffman, which represented the owner in the lease.

Saddle Creek will move during the third quarter into the new building, which includes 7,000 square feet of office and 57 exterior doors, one drive-in door and parking for 127 trailers. The facility includes tenants such as Cypress Medical and Logistics Team. Jack Cozzie and Jim Cummings with Grubb & Ellis, along with Ladson Montgomery with Phoenix Realty Group, represented the tenant in this lease.

The center has direct access to two rail company intermodal parks, the 770-acre BNSF Logistics Park Chicago and the 785-acre Union Pacific Global IV in Joliet, IL. The properties are seen as the Midwest’s inland terminals for containers coming from Asia and through West Coast ports.

Intermodal activity throughout the country is picking up, and new properties are being developed in areas such as Kansas City, MO and Florida. CenterPoint Properties opened its center here jointly with the BNSF park in 2002, while the Union Pacific park moved operations to Joliet from North Lake, IL last year.

Dan Leahy, an EVP with NAI, tells GlobeSt.com that as opposed to the price-conscious leasing throughout the rest of the Chicago industrial market, tenants such as Saddle Creek are leasing at the intermodal park to be close to the rail lines. “It doesn’t come down to saving a nickel or dime in rent, as they are saving five times that in their transportation costs,” Leahy says. “Companies, especially the 3PLs, want to be as close to the rail hubs as possible.”