Joliet-based Cadence growing on Rt. 53

Cadence Premier Logistics, the Joliet-based trucking company with corporate offices and operations along Route 53, plans to expand its operations to the west side of the highway.

The future facility, which still requires city approval, would include an expansion of Cadence’s Pit Stop truck service center, truck and trailer sales, a restaurant, warehouse and truck marshaling center.

Cadence would join Speedway, which plans to begin construction next year on a truck stop at the Emerald Drive intersection on Route 53.

What’s being called the west campus for Cadence would be located on 67 acres being opened up with roadway and intersection improvements being done along with the Speedway project. The west campus would be on the other side of Route 53 from Cadence operations in the Laraway Crossings business park.

“What we are proposing here is an expansion of our existing business,” attorney John Philipchuck, representing Cadence, said to the Joliet Plan Commission last week. Philipchuck also has represented Speedway on its project.

The Plan Commission in an 8-0 vote recommended approval for annexation of the 67 acres for the Cadence plan to the City Council, which is scheduled to vote Dec. 16.

The project would add more trucking operations to Route 53, which drew attention from residents who were at the Plan Commission meeting to speak against the latest NorthPoint Development plan for the Compass Global Logistics Hub that was also on the agenda.

“We’re just getting too many trucks in this area,” one resident said.

It also would mark another expansion for Cadence, which moved from Alsip to Joliet in late 2016 in a search for more space for a growing company.

The Cadence move was seen as a significant entry to Joliet because the company also was establishing a corporate headquarters in the new location, bringing an office center and other operations to the city along with its trucking business.

Cadence operations include trucking, warehousing, truck repairs and sales. The company’s Pit Stop center on the east side of Route 53 also sells fuel for truckers.

“There are many Cadence companies that are part of the Cadence family,” Philpchuck said to the Plan Commission as he urged approval of the annexation plan to “allow an existing Joliet business to expand.”

Residents questioned how much the Cadence plan would add to congestion at the Emerald Drive intersection, which also is used by employees headed for the two Amazon facilities in Laraway Crossings. Ikea also operates a distribution center in Laraway Crossings.

Improvements at the the Emerald Drive intersection, which include the installation of traffic signals, will begin in the spring, city Planning Director Jim Torri said.

Philipchuck said Speedway also plans to begin construction on its auto and truck fuel center in the spring. The Speedway station, already approved, would be built at the Emerald Drive intersection and on the west side of Route 53.