Ferguson Enterprises Leases Full Building at 8130 River Drive in Morton Grove as Colliers, CBRE Broker Deal for The Missner Group

Ferguson Enterprises has signed a full-building industrial lease at 8130 River Drive in Morton Grove, Illinois, The Missner Group announced July 21, 2026. The distributor will occupy the entire approximately 27,500-square-foot single-tenant building, which combines office and warehouse space in an established infill industrial corridor on Chicago's North Side.

Tom Rodeno and Brendan Green of Colliers represented The Missner Group in the transaction. Kevin Segerson, Clayton Thorson, and Thomas Sorrell of CBRE represented Ferguson Enterprises. Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Building Specifications and Location

The building at 8130 River Drive features one interior dock door, two drive-in doors, 21-foot clear heights, and a fully air-conditioned warehouse — a combination The Missner Group describes as uncommon for a building of this size in the submarket. The property sits in an established industrial pocket just east of Waukegan Road, with access to I-294, I-90, and I-94 via Dempster and Touhy, providing direct north-south connectivity into Chicago and the broader Illinois distribution network.

The asset is an older infill industrial building, estimated at a 1980s vintage, that The Missner Group upgraded as part of its value-add acquisition strategy, completing interior improvements and systems work to position the property for single-tenant occupancy. Ferguson Enterprises now occupies the building at 100 percent.

"This lease is exactly the outcome we envisioned when we acquired 8130 River Drive," said Jeremy Weisbach, Director of Asset Management at The Missner Group. "We're excited to add a credited tenant like Ferguson Enterprises to our portfolio. It speaks to the strength of this asset and the improvements we've made, and it's a great example of how our value-add strategy translates into real leasing results."

Tenant Profile and Location Strategy

Ferguson Enterprises is a leading U.S. distributor of plumbing, HVAC, and industrial products operating as the primary domestic subsidiary of Ferguson plc, a FTSE 100 and S&P 500 company that reported fiscal year 2024 revenue above $25 billion. The company has been expanding its regional distribution and branch network near major metropolitan areas, frequently leasing infill facilities in the 20,000-to-80,000-square-foot range that combine highway access, office or showroom capability, and light distribution loading.

The Morton Grove location positions Ferguson Enterprises to serve a North Side and North Shore customer base — including contractors, trades, and institutional property owners — without relying solely on larger, more distant distribution hubs. The building's fully air-conditioned warehouse supports product protection and worker retention, factors that carry added weight for higher-value inventory in a competitive labor market.

Submarket Conditions Favor Infill Industrial

The North Cook infill industrial belt — encompassing Morton Grove, Skokie, Niles, and Lincolnwood — remains among the tighter industrial submarkets in the Midwest. Vacancy for functional small-bay product in the corridor has held below 5 percent, while asking rents for comparable 20,000-to-40,000-square-foot buildings with 18-to-24-foot clear heights and functional loading have been recorded in the low-to-mid teens per square foot gross, with net effective rents in the high single to low double digits on a triple-net basis.

New construction in these neighborhoods is constrained by land scarcity, elevated land costs, and competing residential and retail uses, limiting the supply of modernized infill product. That dynamic has put sustained pressure on existing buildings with upgraded specifications — particularly those offering dock access, drive-in loading, and air-conditioned warehouses at the 25,000-to-30,000-square-foot scale.

Missner Group's Value-Add Industrial Strategy

The Missner Group is a third-generation, family-owned commercial real estate developer and general contractor based in Chicago with more than 80 years of experience delivering industrial, office, and mixed-use projects throughout the Chicagoland area. The firm's current strategy centers on value-add acquisitions, ground-up development, and general contracting services for institutional and private capital partners.

The 8130 River Drive lease follows a similar playbook the firm has applied at other properties in the Chicago metro, including a value-add lease-up at a 58,236-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building at 657 Wolverine Drive in Aurora, Illinois. On the development side, The Missner Group has also delivered ground-up industrial projects in Chicago, including a 169,838-square-foot Class A speculative industrial building at 3900 S. Normal Ave in the Bridgeport neighborhood, completed in partnership with CBRE Investment Management.

Recent comparable stabilized infill industrial trades in North Side submarkets have generally closed at low-to-mid 6 percent cap rates, with some core-plus transactions pushing below 6 percent for best-in-class locations and tenancy.