What Highwood Development does

Highwood Development LLC is a privately held, founder-owned industrial real estate development firm headquartered in Winnetka, Illinois, that develops and markets master-planned industrial parks serving enterprise corporate tenants in distribution, ecommerce fulfillment, logistics, and manufacturing. The company operates two anchor assets: High Plains Industrial Park, a 1,200-acre master-planned park immediately north of Calgary, Alberta (developed in partnership with Highfield Investment Group), and Inland Rail Park Chicago, a 1,000-acre rail-served park in Coal City, Illinois (developed in partnership with Union Pacific Acquisitions). Together these parks house 14+ major corporate tenants including Walmart Canada, Home Depot Canada, Lowe's Canada, Sobeys, Smucker Foods Canada, DSV Solutions, MOBIS Parts Canada, Gordon Food Service, Bison Transport, CHEP Canada, and Moulure Alexandria Moulding, with project sizes ranging from ~150,000 SF to 1.24 MSF.

Highwood's core technology is its site selection and underwriting methodology, which quantitatively compares inbound and outbound transportation costs, labor costs, base rents, and operating expenses against competing sites to identify cost-advantaged locations. The firm integrates market underwriting, master planning, entitlement procurement, project budgeting, value engineering, request-for-proposal responses, lease negotiations, and asset capitalization (joint ventures, construction loans, dispositions) into a single development services offering. It leverages the capital markets teams of major national brokerage firms (CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, Bentall Kennedy) to underwrite and capitalize projects.

The company monetizes through development fees, brokerage and lease negotiation fees, and asset capitalization promote, earned on build-to-suit and speculative industrial projects. Pricing is per-project and non-publicly disclosed, but the firm claims a 10-15% net base rent advantage versus comparable Calgary developments and ~$1.50/sf/year in real estate tax savings at High Plains. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting large corporate tenants directly, supplemented by referral relationships with national brokerage capital markets teams. The firm is led by Principal Jerry Pientka, who has led more than $3B of real estate development across the US, Canada, and Europe, with prior executive roles at Exeter Property Group, First Industrial Realty Trust, and Higgins Development Partners.

Name

Highwood Development

Legal name

Highwood Development LLC

Website

https://highwooddevelopment.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Highwood Development LLC is a founder-owned industrial real estate developer that plans, leases, and capitalizes two master-planned industrial parks — High Plains in Calgary and Inland Rail Park Chicago — serving enterprise tenants in distribution, ecommerce, logistics, and manufacturing with cost-advantaged build-to-suit and speculative facilities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Winnetka

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Build-to-Suit Development: Develops custom industrial facilities to specifications for corporate tenants, who then lease or own the completed property. Generates revenue through development fees, land acquisition, and construction management.
2. Speculative Development: Develops industrial buildings without pre-committed tenants, betting on market demand. Revenue realized upon lease-up or sale of completed facility.
3. Lease Negotiations and Documentation: Facilitates lease agreement negotiations and documentation for industrial real estate, earning fees for brokerage and transaction facilitation services.
4. Asset Capitalization and Joint Ventures: Establishes capitalization plans including joint ventures, construction loans, and asset dispositions to fund development projects and maximize investor returns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Highwood Development develops master-planned industrial parks — High Plains Industrial Park in Calgary, Alberta, and Inland Rail Park Chicago in Coal City, Illinois — offering distribution centers and ecommerce fulfillment facilities to corporate tenants. The firm provides integrated development services including market underwriting, site selection and master planning, entitlement procurement, project budgeting, RFP response, lease negotiation, development project management, and asset capitalization strategies through joint ventures, construction loans, and asset dispositions.

Product overview

Highwood Development is a commercial real estate development company offering a portfolio of two master-planned industrial parks: High Plains Industrial Park (1,200 acres in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Inland Rail Park Chicago (1,000 acres in Coal City, Illinois). The company provides comprehensive development services including market underwriting, site selection, master planning, entitlement procurement, project budgeting, lease negotiations, and asset capitalization. Their industrial developments target distribution centers and ecommerce fulfillment facilities, with High Plains offering cost advantages of 10-15% below comparable Calgary market rates through lower land costs and tax savings of approximately $1.50/sf/year.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• High Plains Industrial Park

Quantifiable outcome

• Net base rents 10-15% less than comparable developments in City of Calgary
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers24 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Highfield Investment GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner with Highfield Investment Group, owner of the 1,200-acre High Plains Industrial Park located in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Jerry Pientka is a partner working with Highfield on marketing, leasing, and development efforts for build-to-suit and speculative development projects.
• Union Pacific AcquisitionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner with Union Pacific Acquisitions as principal owner of a 1,000-acre Union Pacific rail-served Park located 20 miles from highway nexus of I-80/I-55 in Coal City, Illinois. Mr. Pientka manages marketing, leasing, and development efforts for Inland Rail Park Chicago.
• CBREminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMajor commercial real estate brokerage that helped secure DSV Solutions Inc. as tenant at High Plains Industrial Park.
• JLLminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCommercial real estate brokerage that helped secure Moulure Alexandria Moulding as tenant at High Plains Industrial Park.
• Cushman & WakefieldminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCommercial real estate brokerage that helped secure MOBIS Parts Canada Corporation as tenant at High Plains Industrial Park.
• Bison TransportminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTruck transport provider at High Plains Industrial Park offering FTL and LTL services to Park tenants along with Canada Cartage and Charger Logistics.
• Canada CartageminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTruck transport provider at High Plains Industrial Park offering FTL and LTL services to Park tenants.
• Charger LogisticsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTruck transport provider at High Plains Industrial Park offering FTL and LTL services to Park tenants.
• Higgins Development Partners (Pritzker)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloper of the 650,000 SF rail-served facility for Metro Canada Logistics in Toronto, Ontario.
• Hillwood Investment PropertiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developer with Highfield Investment Group and Highwood Development LLC on the 502,000 SF facility for The J. M. Smucker Company in Calgary, Alberta.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Exeter Property Group: Exeter Property Group is an industrial real estate investment and development firm focused on build-to-suit and speculative logistics facilities in North America and Europe. It is a prior employer of Jerry Pientka (Principal, National Head of Development) and operates a comparable development platform in the same target markets.
• Stream Realty Partners: Stream Realty Partners is a national commercial real estate firm with substantial industrial development and investment sales operations. It competes with Highwood for build-to-suit and speculative industrial development mandates in major US logistics markets.
• First Industrial Realty Trust: First Industrial is a US-focused industrial REIT that develops, owns, and operates logistics and distribution properties. It is directly comparable to Highwood and was a prior employer of founder Jerry Pientka (Executive Vice President), giving direct insight into its development model.
• Panattoni Development Company: Panattoni is one of the largest privately-held industrial real estate developers in North America and Europe, executing speculative and build-to-suit logistics developments for enterprise tenants. It competes directly with Highwood for similar corporate build-to-suit mandates in overlapping geographies.
• Trammell Crow Company: Trammell Crow is a major commercial real estate developer with significant industrial and logistics development operations. It targets similar enterprise tenants for build-to-suit distribution centers and operates as a comparable full-service development platform.
• Bentall Kennedy: Bentall Kennedy is a Canadian real estate investment manager and developer that co-developed the 420,000 SF Home Depot speculative building at High Plains with Highwood and Highfield. It is directly comparable as a partner/competitor in the Western Canadian industrial market.
• Higgins Development Partners: Higgins Development Partners is an industrial real estate developer where Jerry Pientka served as President for 20 years, leading over $1B of developments. It is a directly comparable Chicago-based industrial development platform with similar build-to-suit expertise.
• Hillwood Investment Properties: Hillwood is a major industrial and commercial real estate developer that co-developed the 502,000 SF Smucker facility at High Plains with Highwood and Highfield. It develops master-planned industrial parks and logistics facilities for similar enterprise tenants.

Broad incumbents

• Prologis: Prologis is the world's largest industrial REIT with a global logistics real estate portfolio. It competes with Highwood for large enterprise tenants requiring build-to-suit distribution facilities, but operates at vastly greater scale with a public capital structure and global footprint.
• Duke Realty (acquired by Prologis): Duke Realty was a major US industrial REIT focused on bulk distribution and logistics properties before its 2022 acquisition by Prologis. It was a directly comparable industrial development platform competing for the same enterprise build-to-suit tenants as Highwood.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/providence-logistics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Highwood Development