New Joliet I-55 interchange opens access to future mega-development

Interstate access was opened Oct. 7 to more than 309 acres of Joliet land at Interstates 55 and 80.

The rebuilt interchange at I-55 and Illinois Route 59 ends a quest that began 17 years ago as land developers and the city of Joliet sought to unlock the potential of a site labeled the crossroads of mid-America.

“We are at the crossroads of America literally in Joliet, gateway to Chicago, and really the epicenter of progress,” Diane Cullinan Oberhelman, chairwoman of Cullinan Properties, said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new interchange.

Oberhelman was not underselling the potential for Rock Run Collection, the mixed-use development that her company is creating at the crossroads location.

We have some really fun stuff coming. It’s things Joliet needs and deserves.”

—  Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy

The new interchange adds access from both interstate directions to the Joliet site on the east side of I-55. The previous interchange connected with Route 59 only on the west side of I-55 in Shorewood.

“This really is a big deal not only for Illinois but the country,” Oberhelman said.

Just how big a deal will be known when Cullinan begins to name names of hotels, retailers, restaurants and others that will move into the location.

A new Hollywood Casino has been under construction since late last year at Rock Run Collection as has a complex of 570 apartments. Two warehouses have been built.

But Cullinan has not named any retailers, restaurants or hotels coming to the site.

A Regal Cinema was announced in 2019 but that prospect has appeared iffy since the theater chain fell into financial trouble.

Oberhelman said Cullinan is waiting to name its next line of signed-on occupants in a group announcement.

Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy said he has seen a list of potential occupants in Rock Run Collection, and it will be an attraction.

“We have some really fun stuff coming,” D’Arcy said. “It’s things Joliet needs and deserves.”

D’Arcy was among local, state and federal elected officials who joined the ribbon-cutting, reflecting the influence Cullinan Properties was able to exert in getting the $93 million interchange access built.

Others at the ceremony included U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. The federal government contributed $20 million to the interchange project built by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

“I met a lot of developers in my life,” Durbin said. “I never met anyone like Diane (Cullinan-Oberhelman). She doesn’t take no for an answer.”

Cullinan Properties is the second developer to take on the project.

California-based developer O & S Holdings proposed a lifestyle mall at the site in 2007, when such development were still in vogue.

The recession of 2008 killed the O & S plan, and changes in shopping habits since then make a lifestyle mall unlikely.

Just what Cullinan will build isn’t clear other than it will be some kind of mix of retail, restaurants, residences, office buildings, hotels, entertainment and warehouses. How that all pans out will become more clear as the developer announces future occupants of the site.

Cullinan has described the future development as a potential destination site for a large section of the state extending from the Chicago region into downstate Illinois.

Stratton voiced confidence that the future development will become a destination site.

“As we like to say, Illinois is open for business,” Stratton said in her comments at the ceremony. “With this interchange and a few finishing touches, it’s open for travel as well.”