Food distribution company looking to build 1.2M square-foot facility at ChicagoWest by 2020

DeKALB – As DeKalb continues to court two major companies into relocating to the ChicagoWest Business Center along the Interstate 88 tollway, the land owner is seeking a permit to allow a 1.2 million square-foot distribution center on the plot, which an international food distribution company would fill by the end of 2020.

A public hearing on the request is set for Wednesday's Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, 6 p.m. at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.

The company has not yet been identified by city officials or the Chicagoland-based property owner, Jerry Krusinski, CEO of the Krusinski Construction Company, since DeKalb is in competition with a city in Wisconsin for the food manufacturing site.

The food manufacturing and distribution company is looking to construct a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center on the site, along with a 466,500-square-foot packing center on 106 acres of the 343-acre land, documents show. The company seeks to construct the distribution facility and occupy it by the end of 2020, documents show.

If the location is chosen, an additional one million square feet of production facilities would be built in the next few years adjacent to the first two buildings, documents show.

City Manager Bill Nicklas has described the two companies as a significantly-sized international food manufacturer that could bring more than 1,000 jobs, and a knowledge-based company that include100 to 200 jobs. The employers are eyeing space in the 1,000-acre ChicagoWest Business Center, south of I-88 along Gurler Road and Route 23.

Countywide municipalities, including City of DeKalb staff, are attempting to appeal to the companies by offering property tax abatements, financial assistance in looping water man, grants from the Illinois Department of Transportation for roadway improvements and incentives from the DeKalb County Enterprise Zone.