The far southwest suburban community of Channahon in Will County is experiencing a commercial development boomlet.
Aux Sable Liquid Products LP, a natural gas liquids firm from Calgary, Canada, announced this week that it will proceed with its plans, in the works for two years, to construct a plant on an abandoned NI-Gas site.
Meanwhile, A&R Transport Inc. said it will build a truck- and rail-distribution center on 140 acres adjacent to South Tabler Road.
The announcements follow the village’s decision last month to annex the more than 700 acres on which the developments will be located and the creation of a tax increment financing district to provide tax incentives for the projects.
“Both of these developments are significant because they will shift our tax base from reliance on residential real estate taxes,” said Channahon Village President Wayne Chesson.
The village gets 91 percent of its property tax revenue from residential development. With the addition of the gas plant and the distribution facility, the village will derive 49 percent from commercial and industrial development, Chesson said.
In addition, the two developments will generate jobs. The Aux Sable plant, to be built at a cost of $365 million, is expected to employ about 50 people after its completed next year and provide up to 1,000 construction jobs while it is being built.
The number of jobs to be created by the distribution facility has not yet been made available, in part because the village is still reviewing A&R’s plans to construct a 300,000-square-foot warehouse as part of the development, Chesson said.
The Aux Sable plant, which will extract propane, butane, ethane and pentane byproducts from natural gas before the natural gas is piped to homes and businesses, will be the only one of its kind in Illinois and one of the largest in the United States, according to an Aux Sable spokesman.
Chesson said he hopes that the two developments will encourage other firms, especially those that will supply, support or use the products of the new facilities, to locate within or near Channahon.
“This is a very exciting time for Channahon,” Chesson said.
