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Industrial conversion? Hilco buys former coal plant after getting OK to transform another into warehouse complex
Developer’s deal for the old Fisk Generating Station in Pilsen could join flurry of industrial development sweeping into Southwest Side
Hilco Redevelopment Partners bought a shuttered coal-fired electric power plant in Pilsen on the heels of winning city approval for a controversial industrial project on the site of another old plant.
Alderman Danny Solis confirmed the Northbrook-based developer bought the Fisk Generating Station at 1111 West Cermak Road but said he’s not sure what the company’s plans are for the property, according to Block Club.
The firm did not respond to Block Club requests for comment. But Hilco also recently bought two former power plants in New Jersey with plans to turn them into industrial parks, according to GlobeSt.
Hilco last year won city approval for its plan to build a $100 million, 1 million-square-foot distribution facility on the site of the Crawford Coal Plant in Little Village despite community opposition. The complex, which is being built on spec, is expected to be completed in 2020.
Hilco is now asking the city for an incentive that reduces its property tax assessment to 10 percent for the first 10 years of the building’s life, instead of the normal assessment rate of 25 percent.
The warehouse would join a flurry of industrial development sweeping into the Southwest Side, part of a surge in warehouse construction seen across the region. Like Hilco, Marina Cartage built a sprawling speculative industrial development on the Southwest Side, and a logistics firm recently agreed to lease more than half of it. [Block Club] — John O’Brien