Six Flags sells expansion site for industrial park

May 6, 2004

BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter Advertisement

Land in far north suburban Gurnee once slated for an expansion of Six Flags Great America will instead become an industrial park.

CenterPoint Properties Trust said Wednesday it has acquired the property, 134 acres west of Interstate 94 and north of Washington Street.

CenterPoint, the region's largest industrial landowner, said it will start grading the vacant land in two weeks and hopes to begin construction this summer.

Six Flags was the seller, having acquired it in the 1990s with plans for a water park, hotel and even summer housing for seasonal workers. The theme park is directly east of the site. CenterPoint would not disclose the price, but sources said it was slightly less than $12 million.

The deal will mark a rare expansion of the industrial market in Lake County, where a slow economy and lack of land sites not gobbled up by subdivisions have dissuaded business expansions. Michael Murphy, senior vice president of development at CenterPoint, said the company hopes to attract tenants relocating for more space, especially those looking to leave the higher taxes of Cook County.

He said he expects a mix of office and warehouse space will dominate the property. "I sense the market is becoming a lot more active,'' Murphy said. "Smaller companies, in particular, are starting to make decisions .''
No tenants have signed on, but the property's marketing agent, Keith Puritz, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis Inc., said he's negotiating three deals representing about 500,000 square feet.
Ultimately, the site could contain 1.5 million square feet, said Puritz, who also brokered the land sale.
CenterPoint also may start a building without a committed tenant, he said.
About 30 acres will be set aside for wetlands, said Dudley Onderdonk, community development director for Gurnee. He said the village supported Six Flags' plans for an expansion, but when they lapsed, the property reverted to industrial zoning.
The change was ratified in Gurnee's longterm development plan, Onderdonk said.
Six Flags executives were unavailable Wednesday. The parent, Six Flags Inc., put the property on the market last year after seeing attendance drop at most of its 39 parks in North America and Europe.
The company's chairman, Kieran Burke, called 2003 "very disappointing'' and blamed a slow economy and bad weather at several parks.
CenterPoint has been active on the development front. Besides the Gurnee project, it has received municipal approvals for a 242-acre business park in McCook and another of 362 acres in Rochelle.