Manhattan joins lawsuit opposing NorthPoint warehouse

The village of Manhattan has joined in a lawsuit aimed at hemming in a potential 4,000-acre NorthPoint Development warehouse project.

The Manhattan village board last week voted to join the Stop NorthPoint lawsuit that contends the project would overload the area with warehouses and semitrailers.

The NorthPoint project has begun in a relatively small area of Joliet.

The lawsuit is aimed a preventing what is seen as a potential 4,000-plus acre industrial park primarily comprised of warehouses that would change the landscape of a largely rural area.

“Our decision to join this lawsuit reflects our dedication to safeguarding our community’s future,” Manhattan Mayor Mike Adrieansen said in a statement following the vote by the Village Board. “The proposed development by NorthPoint threatens not only our environment but also the safety and well-being of our residents.”

The NorthPoint project has been a controversy since it was first proposed in Elwood in 2017.

Elwood rejected the plan, but NorthPoint was able to get approval in 2020 from Joliet, which so far has approved 2,300 acres for future warehouse construction by the developer.

Area residents, including the Stop NorthPoint group, believe the developer plans to expand its project to about 4,000 acres and move toward the borders of Manhattan.

The Village Board’s decision to join the Stop NorthPoint lawsuit showed that village officials believe Manhattan lies in the path of the developer.

John Kieken, a leader in the Stop NorthPoint group, said the developer is making deals on about 1,300 acres of farm land outside of Manhattan.

“The belief is they secured most of the land,” Kieken said Monday. “It’s under contract.”

A NorthPoint representative on Monday could not be reached for comment.

The NorthPoint plans call for construction of a bridge over Illinois Route 53 to fulfill the developer’s promise that its warehouses would keep trucks within the road networks that lead to the BNSF and Union Paciiic intermodal yards in Elwood and Joliet.

That bridge, which would provide a route for most of NorthPoint land east of Route 53, which potentially includes farm land outside Manhattan, to the intermodal yards, has not been approved.

In the meantime, NorthPoint has built about 3 million square feet of warehouse space on land it owns west of Route 53 near Millsdale Road in Joliet. The plan for land already annexed into Joliet calls for development of 25 million square feet of warehouse space.