Stotan's Itasca buy shows relationships win O'Hare

The 32,937-square-foot industrial building at 1101 W. Thorndale Avenue in Itasca likely never had a chance to reach a listing. Stotan Industrial, buying in partnership with 56 Maple, acquired it in the supply-constrained O'Hare submarket from an owner-user who was transitioning out, with Cushman & Wakefield's Eric Fischer and Gabriel Strauss representing the seller and no price in Connect CRE's report.

On 2.47 acres in DuPage County, the property has direct access to Illinois Route 390, Interstate 290 and Interstate 355, about 15 minutes from O'Hare International Airport's South Cargo facilities. For a small-bay building, that access is the entire pitch: tenants need to reach the airport's freight gates and the interstate network without fighting through the city. Stotan's development manager Blake Waeghe called it "a compelling opportunity" in one of Chicago's premier infill markets, adding that buildings of this size and quality are increasingly difficult to acquire in the O'Hare market.

At 32,937 square feet, the building sits at the small-bay end of industrial, where the supply constraint is most acute. Infill corridors around O'Hare have little room for new product, and buildings this size are often owner-occupied, which means they trade rarely and usually through relationships rather than a broad marketing process. Stotan sourced the deal through longstanding Chicago relationships as the owner-user prepared to transition out, which likely means it changed hands off-market, spoken for before any public listing circulated.

The partnership structure reinforces that point: Stotan brings the market relationships and operating expertise, while 56 Maple supplies the investment side, a pairing that increasingly defines small-bay infill acquisitions. Waeghe's reference to providing "a long-term facility solution for a growing tenant" suggests an income component, though the coverage does not specify whether that tenant is already in place or expected to take space. The quote frames the buy as a hold, not a flip, and for Stotan a market position accrues one small, quiet acquisition at a time.

That transition is the event that creates rare small-bay supply in O'Hare, and Stotan bought it before the broader market knew there was anything to buy.