Council OKs $85K Incentive for $28M Project

A company planning to build a $28 million freezer warehouse employing 30 employees at hourly wages of $15 to $16 will receive an $85,000 incentive from the city of Joliet.

The money will be paid at the time that Joliet Cold Storage, which is affiliated with Bolingbrook Cold Storage and Supreme Lobster and Seafood Co. of Villa Park, applies for its building permits, City Manager Tom Thanas told the Joliet City Council prior to its unanimous approval of the deal Monday.

The 217,000-square-foot facility will be built on a 23-acre industrial site near Cherry Hill and New Lenox roads, with construction expected to begin by May 1.

If the facility is a success, there could be a second 203,000-square-foot warehouse facility built on the same site about two to three years after the completion of the first, said Andy Burns, Joliet Cold Storage vice president of operations, writing in a letter to the city staff.

The benefit to the city, beyond property taxes, will be the amount of water and electricity the new building will require. Both will produce new utility tax income as well as increased water and sewer fees for Joliet.

"It's a good project in the Cherry Hill Industrial Park area that will help us with the growth (there)," Thanas told the council.

The city is also in line to receive a $1.13 million grant from the state that will fund road improvements in the area. Among them, the widening of New Lenox Road and a left turn lane for Cherry Hill Road.