Joliet Arsenal plans unveiled: Enterprise zone will expand to support distribution center. Check it out:
(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 28--Hoping to stimulate development and create jobs in Will County, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Wednesday an expansion of the Joliet Arsenal enterprise zone that will provide an industrial park developer tax incentives to convert 770 acres within the former arsenal site into a bulk distribution center.
Denver-based ProLogis, a global provider of distribution facilities, is in charge of the $300 million project at the south end of the old 23,000-acre arsenal. It is expected to produce 10 million square feet of industrial space, as many as 5,000 construction jobs and up to 3,000 permanent jobs.
"By expanding the boundaries of this enterprise zone, we're encouraging more private sector investment and we're making Will County an even better place to work in and live in." said Blagojevich, speaking at the site north of South Arsenal Road and east of Illinois Highway 53, near Wilmington.
The zone expansion, approved by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, would provide ProLogis several tax incentives to develop the property. They include sales tax exemptions on construction materials used for buildings within the zone, a $500 credit on Illinois income taxes for each worker hired and an investment tax credit for machinery and other equipment.
In addition, the Illinois Department of Transportation is working on an agreement with the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority and ProLogis that would provide $2 million worth of road improvements, much of it funded by ProLogis, state officials said.
With the expansion, the Joliet Arsenal enterprise zone would include more than 7 square miles of the former arsenal site, state officials said.
The zone also includes Oak Brook-based Centerpoint Properties Deer Run Industrial Park at the north end of the former arsenal in Elwood. That emerging project includes a 621-acre Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. intermodal facility and is expected to generate 8,000 to 12,000 jobs over the next decade.
"The arsenal site holds enormous promise as a distribution hub for companies around the world, given its excellent location and the access it affords to strategic transportation infrastructure," said Jeff Schwartz, ProLogis' chief executive officer. "This expansion of the enterprise zone makes the arsenal site even more attractive as a logistics operations base."
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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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