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Joliet City Council punts on CenterPoint warehouse decision

CenterPoint wants to build two 990,000-square-foot warehouses

By Bob Okon
CenterPoint Intermodal Center complex in Joliet. Monday, Dec. 13, 2021 in Joliet.

The CenterPoint Intermodal Center complex includes a Union Pacific intermodal yard in Joliet. The complex is considered the largest inland port in the nation. (Gary Middendorf - gmiddendorf@shawmedia.com/Gary Middendorf)

The Joliet City Council on Tuesday tabled a decision on a CenterPoint Properties plan while waiting on the outcome of ongoing litigation with the developer.

The council pushed back a decision on a CenterPoint plan to develop two 990,000-square-foot warehouses and a trucking facility at Brandon and Schweitzer roads until May 7.

The delay reflects the complex relationship between the Joliet and CenterPoint, which are partners in the development of the Houbolt Road toll bridge and litigants over the city’s approval of NorthPoint Developments plans for a rival industrial park.

Council members were tight-lipped when asked why they would not vote on the CenterPoint plan for two new warehouses, a project that a previous council rejected in 2022.

“I need more information on that,” council member Jan Quillman said after the meeting when asked why she made the motion to table the vote. Asked whether the pending litigation was a factor, Quillman only repeated that she needed more information on the CenterPoint plan.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy would not comment on the delayed decision on the CenterPoint project.

CenterPoint Intermodal is seen in July. The Oak Brook-based CenterPoint announced earlier this year a handful of projects that will lead to the Joliet industrial park being halfway built out.

Cargo containers seen in this file photo line the Union Pacific intermodal yard in Joliet, which is within the CenterPoint Intermodal Center. (Lathan Goumas)

There was no public discussion by the council Tuesday or at its workshop meeting Monday concerning the CenterPoint matter.

But the council did meet in closed session for a half-hour Monday to discuss pending litigation concerning CenterPoint.

CenterPoint is the developer of the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, which includes a Union Pacific intermodal yard in Joliet and a BNSF intermodal yard in Elwood. The complex is considered the largest inland port in the nation because of the numbers of containers transported in and out by rail and loaded onto semitrailers.

CenterPoint has developed warehouses on land it owns in Joliet and Elwood, but has more land to develop, including the site at Brandon and Schweitzer roads.

The litigation between CenterPoint and Joliet is over the city’s approval of the NorthPoint Development project, a massive industrial park that, like CenterPoint Intermodal Center, would stretch from Elwood to Joliet.

CenterPoint contends that its agreements with the city are violated by the NorthPoint project, which depends on trucks using roads that run through the CenterPoint Intermodal Center.