The Halsted Pershing Business Center

Not all buildings get to be Italianate mansions or steel-and-glass creations by starchitects (see last week and the week before). In fact, very few do. Much more common, and arguably more useful, are ones like the recently completed industrial structure I visited on the South Side of Chicago last week.

I drove through heavy rain to get there early in the morning. I stepped inside to attend a breakfast event, and saw this.

It isn't what you'd call beautiful, and doesn't reflect innovative design, but it's got muscle. Steel to give the box shape, concrete panels to keep out the elements. Wiring to bring in electricity for useful tasks, and HVAC to make sure the box doesn't get too hellishly hot or cold. Blue-collar work is going to happen here.

The only part of the structure not yet complete are the tenant buildouts, mainly the ultra-smooth floors. Highly smooth floors are very important in the scheme of things for industrial buildings, especially if the building is being used in any kind of warehouse or distribution capacity. If you need to move around items that weigh a lot using machines that weigh a lot, and move them quickly and without mishap, you're going to need really smooth floors.

Anyway, this particular building is 104,800 square feet but expandable to 200,000 square feet; built on 6.96 acres; has ten exterior docks and four drive-in docks; ten spots for trailer parking; ESFR sprinklers (trust me, that's the kind you want); and 30-foot clear ceilings. About a third of it is slated to be leased so far. But I'm sure that the leasing agents will be able to lease the rest before long, since the facility has good highway and railway access, as well as proximity to the Chicago CBD.

About 100 people came for the breakfast. Some probably wanted a look at the building, but more probably turned out for the breakfast speaker, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. That helped get me out of bed, since I knew I could quote the Senator for an article. Looking at the map of Chicago beforehand, I realized I would have the opportunity to see two Illinois Senators on the same day if I went to the event, and that clenched it. More about that tomorrow.