Panattoni sells suburban spec warehouse for $20M amid strong industrial market

Panattoni Development Company sold a suburban industrial spec building in Darien for $19.5 million, seizing on a strong industrial market in the area.

The California-based developer sold the 185,000-square-foot building at 7879 Lemont Road. The buyer is Darien Real Estate LLC, The Real Deal has learned. It is an entity of Bestview International, an interior surfaces manufacturer based China, and but locally based in Glenview.

Re Journals first reported the sale but did not identify the buyer.

The warehouse, completed in July 2017, is partially occupied by tile distributor Tile & Top. More than 116,000 square feet is unoccupied.

Brokerage Lee & Associates represented buyer and seller in the transaction.

Chicago’s industrial market has been especially active this summer, particularly in the suburban market. A flurry of leasing activity — especially in the big-box sector — has caused developers to reenter the market.

This week, a venture of DeBartolo Development and Location Finders International Real Estate began work on a massive spec shipping warehouse in south suburban Monee.

Also this week, the Opus Group and USAA Real Estate inked a 424,000 square-foot lease for its suburban warehouse that it built on spec in 2015.

Last month, Midwest Industrial Funds paid $17 million for a 600,000-square-foot industrial complex in suburban Hodgkins. [Re Journals] — Joe Ward