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Completion 5: Ford Chicago Manufacturing Campus
Cost: $250 million
The purpose of the Ford Chicago Manufacturing
Campus is twofold.
First, it is intended to locate suppliers of automotive parts
as close as possible to Ford Motor Co.'s Torrence Avenue assembly
plant. That will enable them to provide their parts to the
assembly line on a just-in-time basis.
Second, trucking costs to bring in parts from around the country
will be reduced.
The campus will encompass the company's existing assembly
plant on Torrence Avenue and the new supplier park on 126th
Street.
It is reportedly the first auto manufacturing supplier park
built in North America, but the concept is modeled after Ford's
successful supplier parks in Europe and South America. The
city and state provided financial assistance in the form of
Tax Increment Financing funds and grants.
Eleven suppliers are to be in the campus, and Ford's parts
distribution facility is to be relocated to there from Melrose
Park, Ill.
The developers worked with the suppliers to develop the buildings,
square footage and specifications they needed.
Because the facility's suppliers have extraordinary structural
loading conditions for heavy manufacturing, construction teams
had to drive structural columns in a number of areas through
unsuitable soil into the clay below.
As a result, the ground had to be stabilized for construction.
That required dynamic compaction, whereby a crane dropped
heavy weights from a height of five stories.
Green Issues
The project posed environmental hurdles.
For example, about 6.5 acres of wetlands were restored, and
a portion of Wolf Creek, a link between Wolf Lake and the
Calumet River, was reconstructed through the site.
The developer worked with the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency, Chicago Department of Environment, U.S. Department
of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and the
Illinois Department of Natural Resources on these matters.
The city and state invested approximately $100 million in
the roadway system near the site to improve access into and
out of the facility.
The Chicago Department of Transportation relocated and extended
126th Street between Torrence Avenue and Avenue O to allow
the roadway to travel through the southern end of the campus.
CDOT relocated and reconstructed Torrence to ensure it is
adequate for heavy trucks.
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Key
Players
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Developer:
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CenterPoint Properties Trust, Oak Brook, Ill., and
Ford Land Development, Dearborn, Mich.
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Design Builder:
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FCL Builders Inc., Itasca, Ill.
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Architect:
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Cornerstone Architects Inc., Itasca, Ill.
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Structural Engineer:
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George Grivas Associates Ltd., Arlington Heights, Ill.
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Civil Engineer:
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Spaceco Inc., Rosemont, Ill.
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Mechanical:
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McGuire Engineers, Chicago
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Electrical:
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Kornacki Associates, New Berlin, Wis.
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