Largest Building in Joliet's History Receives City Council Approval

The largest building ever constructed in -- a 1.61 million-square-foot Home Depot distribution center that’s the equivalent of about 28 NFL football fields – was approved Monday by the Joliet City Council.

Home Depot has already started ground work on the structure, which is being built to the east of Home Depot’s just-completed rapid distribution center at Baseline Road and CenterPoint Way in the CenterPoint Intermodal Center.

Financially, the development will be a boon for the city of Joliet, which has already collected $600,000 in building permits and other fees, and stands to net a substantial property tax return when completed in mid-summer 2013, City Manager Tom Thanas said.

The big winners, however, will be Joliet Township High School District 204 and Laraway School District 70, both of which will see a “substantial six-figure” tax boost, Thanas said.

The project also means employment – about 500 construction jobs and 300 permanent Home Depot jobs.

Jeremy Grey, vice president of infrastructure for CenterPoint Properties, said the new building will dwarf the 700,000-square-foot rapid distribution center that opened earlier this year. The two buildings will work in tandem, with the new structure serving as storage space for goods that will be moved through the rapid distribution center, Grey said.

CenterPoint’s intermodal facility provides a system through which goods are shipped across the country, using train lines to bring products from the West Coast and transferring them to trucks that transport it to distribution centers and businesses around the Midwest.

The facility has been overwhelmingly successful, with distribution centers for many companies being built along the Interstate 80 and Interstate 55 corridors. That Joliet has six of the seven major railroads passing through town is one of the keys to its success, Thanas said.  

Mayor Tom Giarrante, who has been involved in the negotiations that persuaded Home Depot to expand here, said he was “ecstatic” that the deal has been finalized.

Thanas said the company did not ask for any tax incentives or fee waivers as part of the agreement.

Although site work started in April, the city council did not sign off on preliminary and recording plats needed for the project until Monday. Under a provision in the city ordinances, projects that meet the city’s building criteria and have the general support of city officials can begin construction work before getting plat approval, Thanas said.

In appearance, the building will be very similar to the just-completed Home Depot building, with a white-and-gray façade and simple box shape. The entrance and employee parking will be off CenterPoint Way, and detention ponds will be built in front of and behind the long rectangular building.