Peppercorn Capital to build $91M spec industrial building on Near West Side

Peppercorn Capital is planning a two-story spec industrial building on the Near West Side, which when completed will target microbreweries and food production companies that populate the area.

The Chicago-based firm Friday secured a building permit for initial work on the facility at 2124 West Lake Street. Construction cost is expected at around $91 million.

The property is west of the booming Fulton Market district in an area that is starting to get more attention from developers and investors.

Unlike the surge in office, hotel and retail development in Fulton Market, Peppercorn owner Phil Denny envisions his Lake Street facility will be consistent with the light-industrial character of an area with a number of microbreweries and food production companies.

Denny said the conceptual idea for the property is a group of several microbreweries under one roof, with on-site production, a tasting room and retail space to sell their products.

Peppercorn, which owns 22 properties in Fulton Market and the West Loop, plans to hire a commercial brokerage to help attract tenants, which Denny ultimately said also could branch out to include coffee roasters, other food producers and even media companies.

The general contractor on the building is Norcom and the architect is JGMA.

The site is near a planned Damen Avenue Green Line CTA stop, and not far from where Dayton Street Partners recently bought an industrial building at 2501 West Fulton Street, with plans to maintain it as a warehouse instead of launching an adaptive reuse.

Another developer wants to build a 42-unit apartment complex with ground-floor retail a few blocks away at 2223 West Madison Street.

Walnut Street Properties, meanwhile, inked tech firm Snap36 to a 42,000-square-foot lease at 219 North Paulina Street.