Northpoint Development is going big with its first project in Kenosha, investing about $45 million in a 757,418-square-foot speculative building that will open in the first quarter of next year.

The Kansas City, Missouri, firm has industrial buildings in nearby markets like Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis and other surrounding markets. Company officials have “always wanted to get into the southeast Wisconsin market,” said Northpoint project manager Joe Franek.

“The area has got a great pool of labor, it’s got access to upward of 50 million people within six hours driving range for a truck,” he said. “You’ve got Milwaukee just to the north, Chicago just to the south, and with Wisconsin being so pro-business it’s kind of a no-brainer to get into that market.”

Northpoint Development hosted local government officials on Tuesday to break ground for the “Heartland 94” industrial building east of Interstate 94 at 8311 38th St. It is among 2.2 million square feet of spec industrial buildings under construction or moving forward this year in Kenosha, said director of city development Tim Casey. He said city officials remain comfortable that’s an appropriate amount considering the area’s vacancy rate and amount of activity by companies seeking buildings for e-commerce shipping and other uses.

“It’s a continued strong user market and a continued strong spec market,” Casey said.

There’s another 2 million square feet of building space under construction in Kenosha for end users, much of it for Uline Inc., Casey said. Another 1 million square feet of additional speculative industrial buildings are in the earlier stages of development, he said.

Read more at the Milwaukee Business Journal.