Cullinan has industrial options at Rock Run Crossings

More than a quarter of the future Rock Run Crossings project could be developed for warehouses, according to final plans that go to the Joliet Plan Commission for a vote this week.

Rock Run Crossings long has been envisioned as a destination site that could draw shoppers, diners, travelers, entertainment seekers and new office workers to Joliet because of its prime location at the crossing of Interstates 55 and 80.

Most of the 263 acres on the site remain devoted to those kind of uses.

But the city in January approved rezoning of 59 acres for industrial use that could accommodate warehouses, although that area includes 12.5 acres for storm water detention.

The plat for the development includes another roughly 15 acres that could be switched to industrial zoning if Cullinan Properties is not able to attract commercial and residential development within 18 months of a new interchange being opened.

The Plan Commission on Thursday is slated to vote on the final plat, which would next go to the City Council for approval. The provisions allowing for industrial development were in the preliminary plat approved in January.

Plans from East Peoria-based Cullinan Properties contemplate a variety of development on the site.

Cullinan spokeswoman Anaise Berry said “there is great interest in Rock Run Crossings by a multitude of users.”

“While we can’t announce anything specific just yet, active discussions with prospective stakeholders for several different uses at the site, including entertainment, hospitality, medical/office, retail and restaurant, and multi-family have been ongoing and are very positive,” Berry said in an email.

The developer in January provided the city with a potential mix of uses by square footage that included:

• 360,000 square feet of commercial space;

• 82,000 square feet of restaurant space;

• 134,000 square feet of hotel space;

• 180,000 square feet of office space;

• 50,000 square feet of fitness space;

• 13,500 square feet of pharmacy space;

• 4,600 square feet of bank space;

• 4,000 square feet of gas station space.

Cullinan has not provided a square-footage estimate on industrial space.

Joliet Planning Director Jim Torri said warehouse development would be along the lines of the neighboring Rock Run Business Park rather than what is found at the CenterPoint Intermodal Center.

“It’s not enormous by any means,” Torri said.

He noted that 12.9 acres of the land zoned industrial will be used for storm water detention.

Berry called the 59 acres a “a natural extension” of the Rock Run Business Park.

Cullinan to date has announced only one prospective development – Regal Cinema, which was announced in March 2019 when the developer held a ceremonial groundbreaking event.

The developer this year has done excavation for storm water detention and expects to begin grading later this year for utilities and roadways that will begin to be built in 2022, Berry said.

Advance work for the interchange, which is essential in attracting development, started this year. But IDOT has not given a completion date for the interchange.

Berry said Cullinan has been told it could open by the end of 2023.