New Joliet warehouse believed to be future Walmart operation

Walmart is the expected user of a 1.1 million-square foot warehouse recently built in Joliet.

The distribution center is in the CenterPoint Intermodal Center and the latest warehouse to have been built in Joliet.

It was built on spec by CenterPoint Properties.

The Oak Brook-based developer said the building is fully leased but would not name the tenant. Walmart did not respond to a request for information Wednesday afternoon.

But Joliet officials believe Walmart is the tenant based on plans submitted to the city.

“We were never officially told it was going to be Walmart,” Joliet Director of Economic Development Derek Conley said. “However, we kind of got the feeling from the submittals to our building department that it was going to be Walmart.”

Crain’s Chicago Business last week cited unnamed sources in reporting that the building will be used by Walmart.

Walmart now has a twin-building 3.4 million-square-foot distribution operation in Elwood, located near the BNSF intermodal yard in CenterPoint Intermodal Center-Elwood. The Joliet facility is near the Union Pacific intermodal yard in CenterPoint Intermodal Center-Joliet. The two industrial parks are contiguous.

Conley said there has been no indication that Walmart would move operations from Elwood to Joliet. The new distribution center could be an expansion of the retailer’s operations.

The Joliet building at 3501 Brandon Road is located near the new distribution center for Harbor Freight Tools, a 1.6 million-square-foot facility that is the largest building in Will County.

“The construction of that building is done, and they are working on internal racking,” Conley said of the Harbor Freight building.

Harbor Freight, a tool retailer that has a store in Crest Hill, is advertising for employees for the Joliet distribution facility.