First Rock Run Crossings projects: 2 warehouses and 760 apartments in Joliet

The first projects for Rock Run Crossings have been proposed: 760 apartments and two warehouses.

The two projects will take up 112 acres, which is more than one third of the development promoted as a future regional destination point with stores, restaurants, entertainment, hotels and office complexes.

The proposals will go to the Joliet Plan Commission for review on Thursday.

The Rock Run Crossings plan also includes space for warehouses and housing, and that’s where developer Cullinan Properties is starting.

“This would be mixed-use, so there would be apartments,” Councilman Larry Hug, chairman of the Economic Development Committee, said Tuesday. “That’s not outside the agreement.”

The 36-building apartment development includes plans for dog parks, green spaces, outdoor swimming, a clubhouse and other amenities.

A spokeswoman for Cullinan said that the developer has expanded the housing portion of Rock Run Crossings from past plans because of “feedback” from the city and market demand.

“The growing multifamily demand will also support the various retail, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, restaurant and office users that are actively seeking space within the project,” Cullinan spokeswoman Nicole Sutherland said in an emailed statement.

The 309-acre development is at the crossing of Interstates 55 and 80.

Cullinan has announced one future tenant for Rock Run Crossings, and that was in 2019 when the developer said Regal Cinemas would build a movie theater on the site. Regal Cinemas’ parent company last week filed for bankruptcy, casting some doubt on the Joliet plan. But Sutherland said Cullinan still has a lease with Regal Cinemas.

Hug noted that while the development agreement between the city and Cullinan allows for warehouse space, industrial development is limited to 20% of the entire project.

The 45 acres included in the current warehouse proposal is all the land available for warehouse development at Rock Run Crossings, Joliet Planning Director Jim Torri said.

“That is all the industrial zoned property,” he said.

IDI Logistics, which developed the Rock Run Business Park, directly east of Rock Run Crossings, would develop the warehouse space.

The plan includes two warehouses totaling just under 900,000 square feet.

A 677,600-square-foot warehouse would be built for Ecolab, which now has two warehouses in the Rock Run Business Park and a manufacturing plant on Route 6. The second warehouse would be 220,320 square feet.

Torri said Ecolab’s interest in additional warehouse space prompted early development of the industrial space.

“They know for sure that the industry wants to get built there,” he said. “And, they want to do this preliminary Planned Unit Development for the apartments and make sure everyone is comfortable with that proposal.”

The plans would go to the City Council for a final vote in October.

The apartments would be developed on 67 acres.

The plan, according to a city staff report to the Plan Commission, includes multiple dog parks, private open green spaces, pedestrian connections to sidewalks and trails, gazebos, fire pits, barbecue areas, cabanas, and pickleball courts.

A 10,000-square-foot clubhouse would include an e-lounge café, service kitchen, social areas, a fitness center, an outdoor pool and sundeck, a courtyard patio with outdoor kitchen and grill stations, and a fireside lounge.

The apartment complex would be in the northeast section of Rock Run Crossings.

Apartment buildings would be between two and three stories high. Apartments would be studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms and three bedrooms.

“Based on feedback from the city of Joliet and the growing demand of Class A apartments in the area, Cullinan Properties expanded the residential area from the original proposed plan,” Sutherland said in her email.