Chicago’s First Vertical Warehouse Hits Market, Still Empty

Logistics Property Company is putting the Midwest’s first multistory warehouse on the market a year after completing the ambitious development.

JLL was hired to sell the 1.2 million-square-foot, five-level industrial and parking complex at 1237 West Division Street, according to marketing materials first reported by CoStar News. Brokers Kurt Sarbaugh and John Huguenard are leading the listing. The asking price wasn’t disclosed.

The vacant property includes 571,000 square feet of warehouse space on two levels, plus ramps and parking decks that can hold 1,590 cars or 763 vans.

Built speculatively on the edge of Goose Island, the facility represented a major bet on the next generation of logistics design — a vertical model popular in Asia and Europe but still rare in the U.S. outside coastal markets such as Seattle, New York and San Francisco. The Division Street project marked the concept’s debut in the Midwest, with developers touting its potential to bring hundreds of industrial jobs close to downtown.

But after more than a year of marketing, the property is empty.

The site is just north of the Loop and across the Chicago River from Goose Island, with direct access to the Kennedy Expressway. The developer paid more than $55 million for the land and secured $150 million in construction financing before construction in 2022.

“We are pursuing all opportunities with this development, including lease or sale, offering flexibility for potential users who plan to be in the Chicago market for the long term,” a Logistics Property spokesperson told the outlet.

The company has previously said the facility could support 600 to 800 permanent jobs. Founding partner Aaron Martell told CoStar last year that potential tenants included e-commerce and consumer goods companies, delivery firms and even film production operators.

JLL is pitching the property as a one-of-a-kind investment play, highlighting its 135-foot truck courts, pedestrian bridge linking the parking and warehouse structures, and prime infill location amid a tightening industrial market. Chicago’s industrial vacancy rate was 5.9 percent in the third quarter, compared to 7.5 percent nationally, according to CoStar.

— Eric Weilbacher