Midwest Industrial Funds Sees Leasing Spike in Second Half

Midwest Industrial Funds Sees Leasing Spike in Second Half

One of Greater Chicago’s Largest Private Industrial Owners Expands Libertyville Property

Credit: CoStar News

December 19, 2019 | Jennifer Waters

Midwest Industrial Funds was the design-build general contractor and construction manager for an addition at 1200 Technology Way in Libertyville, Illinois. (Midwest Industrial Funds)
Midwest Industrial Funds was the design-build general contractor and construction manager for an addition at 1200 Technology Way in Libertyville, Illinois. (Midwest Industrial Funds)

Add 1200 Technology Way in Libertyville, Illinois, to Midwest Industrial Funds’ budding portfolio since the middle of the year.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based firm, one of the largest holders of industrial space in the greater Chicago area, added an 118,000-square-foot lease extension and building expansion to the site that is the headquarters for MBX Systems.

MBX, a custom computing hardware manufacturer, has been a tenant at 1200 Technology Way with 84,000 square feet since 2012. It extended the lease long term and added another 34,000 square feet in a new addition that it also uses for high-tech production and distribution operations with a state-of-the-art, precast, concrete-wall addition and two more loading docks.

That helped catapult Midwest Industrial Funds’ completed transactions to more than 550,000 square feet of new leases and lease extensions within its portfolio since midyear. Besides Libertyville, Midwest Industrial Funds secured properties in the suburban Illinois towns of Northlake, Batavia, Downers Grove, South Holland and Huntley.

“It has been a very busy last few months on the portfolio leasing side for us renewing several existing tenants and securing new tenants at some of our vacancies,” Justin Fierz, a Midwest Industrial Funds Principal, said in a statement.

He said the building addition included a major replacement of 200-plus tons of air conditioning units that cool MBX’s production area. The project involved Midwest Industrial Funds’ in-house, design-build general contracting services.

For the Record

Hugh Williams at MK Asset Brokerage and John Hauser at Avison Young represented MBX on the lease transaction.

jwaters@costar.com