In addition to being in the shadow of the DuPage Airport, thethird busiest in Illinois, the land along the county line betweenRoosevelt Road and Fabyan Parkway also is next to the Fermi lab.The REIT has been working for more than a year on a build-to-suitdeal involving a 15-year lease with a federal agency, as well as abuild-to-suit that will be sold to a technology company, sayspresident and chief operating officer Michael Mullen. "I thinkwe're seeing pretty good demand already," he adds.

While Mullen declines to identify the first tenants, the DuPageAirport Authority already has disclosed NASA and the US Departmentof Defense will take space in the technology park. The developmentplan calls for 181 acres earmarked for research and developmentusers, 128 acres for light industrial users and 104 acres forcommercial use, which could include hotels and restaurants.Acceptable uses in the tech park could include financial services,data recovery and logistics, Mullen adds.

CenterPoint Properties Trust is committed to a series of groundleases with the airport authority, beginning with a 25-year deal on175 acres for $2.4 million a year. The lease can be increased by 25acres a year, but will not exceed 413 acres, the maximum that canbe developed, REIT officials say.