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Project Profile: CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet

CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet

photo credit: Union Pacific Railroad

Location

Joliet, Illinois (Metropolitan Chicago region)

Project Borrower / Sponsor

CenterPoint Properties Trust

Program Areas

Project FinanceValue Capture

Value Capture Techniques Private Contribution
Mode

Intermodal

Description

CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet (CIC-Joliet) is a logistics center and inland port located on 3,600 acres approximately 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago that opened in 2010. It has since been combined with the existing CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Elwood, home to BNSF Logistics Park, two miles to the south, to create the contiguous CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet/Elwood. The combined 6,400-acre intermodal facility is the nation's largest inland port.

CenterPoint Properties Trust (CenterPoint) is the master developer of the CIC-Joliet facility and leases parcels to tenants on which they can operate and manage their freight and logistics activities. CenterPoint manages four other intermodal centers around the country. Of CIC-Joliet's 3,600 acres, 1,900 acres were earmarked for the construction of 20 million square feet of industrial facilities (warehousing, distribution, manufacturing, etc.) and 400 acres for container management yards. In 2010, Union Pacific completed construction of a 785-acre Class I intermodal facility, the Joliet Intermodal Terminal. In addition to the Union Pacific Terminal, CIC-Joliet is zoned to accommodate one other Class I intermodal facility .

Cost

Project Cost Estimate - $ 1.26 billion (per Illinois Finance Authority Board Summary, September 2012)

  • Land Acquisition - $238 million
  • New Construction - $987.1 million
  • Equipment - $35 million
Projected Total Investment Value - $2 billion
Funding Sources

Private Activity Bonds (PABs) - $225 million (Series 2010 and 2012 bonds)

  • Future bonding capacity - $700 million
Equity - $125 million
Project Delivery / Contract Method

Not applicable

Private Partner

Not applicable

Project Advisors / Consultants

Latham & Watkins LLP - General Counsel
Price Waterhouse Cooper LLP - Borrower's Auditors
Perkins Coie - LLP Bond Counsel
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey - Underwriter

SunTrust - Bank
Lenders

Conduit Bond Issuer - Illinois Finance Authority
Bond Purchasers - Bank Syndicate

  • Bank of America
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • PNC
  • Regions Bank
  • SunTrust
  • US Bank
  • Wells Fargo
Duration / Status

Construction began summer 2008; intermodal facility opened for business in August 2010.

Financial Status

Illinois Finance Authority approved a preliminary bond resolution for an amount not to exceed $1.34 billion for CIC-Joliet in August 2007. CenterPoint submitted an application to USDOT for a PAB allocation in September 2007, resulting in an allocation of $1.34 billion. The initial tranche of $150 million in PABs closed December 2010. The second tranche of $75 million closed in fall 2012.

Under the agreed PAB program, CenterPoint had five years to expend the allocated bond proceeds. The company decided to issue bonds to reimburse expenditures following project construction every one or two years. The expectation is that the bonds will continue to be issued in multiple series over the development period (5-10 years).

Innovations Not available
Related Links / Articles

CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet/Elwood Website

Union Pacific Joliet Terminal Press Release
Contacts

CenterPoint Properties

Tel: (630) 586-8000
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