SOMERS, WIS. — First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: FR) has unveiled plans to develop First Park 94, a master-planned business park in Somers, located eight miles north of the Illinois/Wisconsin border. First Park 94 will be built on 309 acres that First Industrial recently acquired for $13.4 million. Somers is situated in Kenosha, Wis., an industrial submarket of Chicago. The first phase of First Park 94 calls for the commencement of infrastructure work and construction of a 600,000-square-foot cross-dock distribution center featuring 36-foot clear heights, 185-foot truck courts, generous trailer parking, extensive dock-high loading, and an ESFR sprinkler system. In total, First Park 94 can accommodate approximately 4.6 million square feet of development including build-to-suits ranging from 150,000 square feet to 1.5 million square feet. The site is accessible to I-94 from three four-way interchanges and offers frontage along the Canadian Pacific Railway with potential rail access. First Park 94 is located less than one hour from both O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.
First Industrial’s development team for this project is comprised of Adam Moore, regional director; Chad Parrish, director of development; Jim Schlundt, operations director; and Brad Kluever, investment associate. As of June 30, Chicago-based First Industrial owned or had under development approximately 64.8 million square feet of industrial space nationally. Whit Heitman, Sam Badger and Brad Weiner of NAI Hiffman assisted in the land purchase.