Construction starts on new NorthPoint mixed-use, industrial campus

Work began on an industrial and commercial project in Algonquin that would be the first of its kind at that scale in the village, officials said.

The project, overseen by Kansas City-based NorthPoint Development, is located south of Longmeadow Parkway between Huntley Road and Randall Road, and could create between 500 and 1,000 permanent jobs, Community Development Director Jason Shallcross said.

The village of Algonquin has been looking to build a business park for more than 20 years, Algonquin Village President Debby Sosine said.

“I think NorthPoint is a great project for Algonquin,” Sosine said. “Working with NorthPoint has been awesome. All of our staff has been really good, and the board has unanimously approved everything every step of the way. We are really excited for this to start.”

Trustee Jerry Glogowski, who has been on the board since 2005, said adding light industrial or other kinds of economic development is a great move for Algonquin.

“I’m always in favor of this type of project,” Glogowski said. “We need more job growth. Retail can only provide so much income. You need bigger projects. There are blue collar jobs that pay well, and I think this will bring some good-paying jobs into our community. We need that.”

This will be NorthPoint’s first project in Kane County and its third in the Chicago area, after Heartland 94 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Commerce Park Chicago on the far South Side of the city along the Calumet River, NorthPoint development manager David Salinas said.

Tenants are not yet officially lined up, but the goal is for the park to be for mixed-use purposes, NorthPoint representatives said. The project’s brokerage firm, CBRE, is actively marketing the development.

A groundbreaking event has been scheduled for June 9, and the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, with tenants leasing the space before construction is completed, the representatives said.

As of last week, site fencing was being installed in preparation for site grading for the first two buildings, which will be 470,000 and 250,000 square feet in size, Shallcross said.

Site plans were presented to the Village Board in June, and a tax increment financing district – a type of special taxing district that uses property taxes to spur development – was established for the site at the end of last year to address chronic flooding and to develop other public infrastructure improvements, according to a news release last year from the village.

The plans were given final approval by the Algonquin Village Board at its April 19 meeting.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to join the Algonquin community,” said Brent Miles, NorthPoint’s chief marketing officer. “This will further strengthen the short- and long-term economy through both direct and indirect job creation, as well as generating tax revenue at the state and local level.”

“If you want to be in the I-90 corridor, here or farther south, there’s a lot of interest,” Shallcross said.

Some potential uses for the site include an e-commerce park, business headquarters or light manufacturing, NorthPoint representatives said.

The site was selected by NorthPoint because of its location within the Randall Road and Interstate 90 corridor, Salinas said. He said the company also was impressed with Algonquin’s vision for a business park there.

The site ultimately will have five buildings. The final site plan document also shows green space throughout the campus, as well a retail parcel along Randall Road.

Trustee Bob Smith, who has been on the board for 25 years and worked on bringing business into the village “for a very long time,” said one aspect of the project he particularly liked was that NorthPoint was going to be managing the property, not just building the five on-site facilities. He said that means the company will be fully invested in the project’s success.