A 729,600-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility with a truck and trailer parking lot could be developed on a site now used as farmland near Interstate 94 and the Kenosha Airport.
The $48.3 million project would create up to 480 full-time jobs.
The facility is being proposed on roughly 67.7 acres, located south of 38th Street, west of Canadian Pacific railroad tracks and east of 88th Avenue in the town of Somers. The site is across 88th Avenue from the Kenosha Airport.
The two parcels that make up the development site would be annexed by the city of Kenosha and rezoned for industrial uses.
Brian Wilke, Kenosha development coordinator, said the project would be co-developed by Downers Grove, Illinois-based Transport Properties LLC and Riverside, Missouri-based NorthPoint Development.
The developers are scheduled to present their plans to Kenosha’s City Plan Commission tonight and have also filed an application with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to fill wetlands at the site.
According to the DNR application, NorthPoint would own and manage the warehouse as a transport logistics facility. The entire building could be leased to one user or divided up for multiple users.
“NorthPoint Development has a significant client portfolio that are looking to expand their operations in the Chicago/Midwest area and will have no difficulties filling lease vacancies in the proposed warehouse,” the application states.
The project would provide work to 250 construction workers, and once built would create 360-480 full-time jobs, according to the application. Those end-use jobs would have an average salary of $38,000.
It would be developed in two phases. The trailer truck parking lot and entrance would be built first, and the warehouse would be constructed as the second phase. The developers anticipate to break ground in August, and assuming all approvals are granted, the full buildout would take about six months.
Wilke said the Plan Commission tonight will only discuss the project and provide feedback. City staffers will provide their thoughts and the public will also be allowed to comment on the plans.
He added that the landowners have already submitted a request for the city to annex the land.
Interest in building the facility at this site comes from the significant number of developments occurring in recent years along the I-94 corridor, according to the DNR application. Other factors that make the development a desirable one is the site’s proximity to the Chicagoland market, Kenosha’s strong labor pool and the “positive business climate offered in the state of Wisconsin.”
“Northpoint views this region as a crucial addition to their current portfolio of over 71 million square feet of distribution warehouses in North America, all of which they own, and manage internally,” the application states.