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WILL COUNTY, IL-A business park is being developed inunincorporated Will County, near the city of Wilmington, by apartnership between Ridge Property Trust, based in Chicago, and theBurlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co., with corporateheadquarters in Fort Worth. RidgePort Logistics Center-Chicago willbe located at the intersection of Interstate 55 and Lorenzo Roadand will consist of between 2,000 acres and 3,000 acres, says DougHayes, vice president with the REIT. The value of the 15-yearproject is more than $1.6 billion, which "is just our part of it.It does not include the railroad's end of it because they are stillup in the air with their plans," Hayes says.

The business center will have more than 20 million sf ofindustrial space when fully built. The park will have bothspeculative buildings and build to suit facilities. Ridge hopes tobegin construction by late summer on the first building for thepark, which will be a spec facility with slightly more than onemillion sf. The building is expected to be completed by summer orfall of next year. Hayes said he could not release asking leaserates, but the average rate for warehouse use is $3.84 per sf,according to a Grubb & Ellis Q1 report. The business centerwill have rail-served buildings. The railroad is "beginning work ontheir main line that goes through there and are looking to put moretracks into their current right of way," Hayes says.