Commercial construction in Joliet on the rise in 2012
By Bob Okon bokon@stmedianetwork.com October 27, 2012 12:06AM
Area Home Depot stores will get items from a new distribution warehouse in Joliet, which opened in 2012. | Sun-Times Media file photo
Updated: November 29, 2012 6:44AM
JOLIET — It’s been a very good year for commercial construction in Joliet, the city’s chief building inspector reported last week.
Dave Mackley said the city as of October had issued permits for $115 million worth of commercial construction, already way higher than the $87 million worth of construction permitted in all of 2011.
That’s a 32 percent increase with a couple of months still to go.
Give home-improvement retailer Home Depot a lot of the credit for the improvement, Mackley said.
Home Depot’s giant distribution center has a value of $49 million all by itself. The building in Centerpoint Intermodal Center-Joliet is also the biggest building in town at 1.6 million square feet.
“Louis Joliet Mall continues to be a strong performer,” Mackley added when making his report on building activity to the Joliet City Council Land Use Committee.
The mall typically runs at a 98 percent occupancy rate, and that’s going up for the holidays, he said. With the addition of some seasonal retail, Mackley said, “The mall will be 100-percent occupied for the holiday season, which is just amazing.”
Other projects highlighted by Mackley include:
◆ Expansions at the Central Grocers and Interstate Warehouse food distribution centers.
◆ A huge storage yard being created at the Central States Trucking facility along Millsdale Road.
◆ The Aunt Martha’s Health Center under construction at the old Silver Cross Hospital campus.
◆ Improvements at the Provena Villa Franciscan nursing home and neighboring Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center.
◆ New eateries such as Smokey’s Bar-B-Q on Jefferson Street, Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria on Illinois 59 and Jet’s Pizza on Essington Street.
◆ The Cass Street strip mall with an auto parts shop and dollar store that replaced the old Prayer Tower Church of God in Christ, and the new Prayer Tower church nearly completed on Stryker Avenue.
