[MayorOfChicago]

Railroad freight center planned for Crete
850-acre development would create jobs, capacity
Industrial developer CenterPoint Properties Trust said it plans to build a railroad freight center in far south suburban Crete, creating hundreds of jobs and additional capacity for the Chicago area's overburdened railroad network.

The 850-acre development would be west of Balmoral Park horse racing track and State Route 394. Oak Brook-based CenterPoint is proposing as much 5 million square feet of warehouse space in addition to tracks and storage space for transferring shipping containers from freight trains to truck trailers.

The $250-million rail yard, which would stretch for more than a mile and a half, would be designed to handle at least a million container lifts on and off trains annually, making it one of the largest intermodal freight centers in the Chicago area.

Initial employment estimates peg 300 to 400 jobs directly to the rail operations and perhaps as many as 1,000 jobs in nearby warehouses, which would constructed and leased over several years. More than 1,000 people work at a CenterPoint-built rail yard and warehouse park in Elwood near Joliet.

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"This is going to be a large economic engine for the south suburbs," Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn said Tuesday. "I'm flattered that they chose Crete to partner up with."

CenterPoint spent an estimated $50 million acquiring parcels from several different property owners. The developer has asked Crete officials to annex and rezone the property, which is now unincorporated and zoned for farming. The village board is scheduled to vote March 19.

Mr. Einhorn said he expects the development to be approved and anticipates construction beginning later this year. He predicted that some of the rail infrastructure would be completed in 2008.

CenterPoint, however, is proceeding without a commitment from a major freight railroad to lease the rail yard. The rail right-of-way that runs through the site is controlled by CSX Transportation Inc. and Union Pacific Corp.

A CenterPoint spokesman said talks are under way with the two railroads, but deal has not been reached. Calls to CSX were not immediately returned and a spokesman for Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific declined to comment.

"It's a work in progress," Mr. Einhorn said. "There's going to be a lot of audibles called on this."

Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX has been eyeing sites for new rail yards in the south suburbs and in Northwest Indiana for more than a year. Industry observers say the Crete site would allow the CSX to increase its freight volume between Chicago and ocean ports in the Southeast, which are seeing an increase in ship traffic as ports elsewhere in the country become congested.

CSX already employs about 1,000 people in Chicago area with major yards in south suburban Riverdale, Bedford Park and at 59th Street in Chicago.

Freight yards and track routes in the Chicago area have been stretched to their limits in recent years as railroads have become the preferred transportation mode for long-distance hauling and carrying imported goods from Asia.