A lab/office building with $90,000 in annual base rent

Description:

204 Northwest Hwy is a 7,389 SF single-story commercial building on 0.31 acre in downtown Fox River Grove, directly across Route 14 from the Metra station, offered at $1,200,000. The building is leased to American Calibration, LLC, an ANAB-accredited calibration laboratory founded in 1992, at $90,000 a year of base rent ($7,500 a month) through January 12, 2028, with two 2-year options at 5% increases. The tenant reimburses real estate taxes and property insurance and pays its own utilities; the landlord holds the roof, structure and system replacements. At $1,200,000 the price is $162 per square foot.

For market context, nine selected CoStar closed-sale records from north and northwest suburban communities, dated August 2025 through June 2026, include three bank, retail and fast-food property sales with reported cap rates of 5.9%–6.3%, and six retail, restaurant and retail/office property sales under 20,000 SF with reported cap rates of 7.4%–9.0%, median 7.9%. One of the six was reported as part of a two-property sale.

Here, annual base rent of $90,000 equals 7.5% of the $1,200,000 asking price, before the landlord's own liability insurance and capital costs and reserves. Taxes and property insurance are reimbursed by the tenant. This base-rent ratio is not a like-for-like comparison with a net-income cap rate. The tenant's credit, remaining lease term and landlord obligations belong in the comparison alongside the building. Buyer to verify in due diligence.

Source for market figures: CoStar closed-sale export used for this market comparison. Property figures: supplied lease form and asking price.

The offering combines an existing lease with a building fitted out in 2024-25 for a calibration laboratory: four labs, seven offices, a showroom and two shipping rooms. An investor can evaluate the income in place; a future owner-user can evaluate the building, subject to the tenant's renewal options and use approvals. The building also has a conference room, a kitchenette, two front restrooms, LED lighting throughout, key-fob doors and occupancy-sensor lighting, and the shipping rooms are served by an exterior drive-in door and three interior overhead doors. The flat roof was replaced under Rx Roofing & Construction's invoice dated April 1, 2026: a fully adhered 60-mil TPO system carrying a 20-year material and 10-year labor warranty, paid in full; buyer to verify the warranty terms in due diligence. The building was recently fully sprinklered with a new dedicated fire-service line.

Route 14 carries about 25,700 vehicles a day past the door, including about 1,100 trucks (Illinois Department of Transportation, 2025 average annual daily traffic). The Village of Fox River Grove owns six of the ten parcels on the block, including the commuter lot next door and the house behind, and its Downtown TIF District #2 plan lists this parcel inside a redevelopment site; a 97-unit mixed-use building was approved across Illinois Street in May 2026. All figures from the lease, the McHenry County record and the seller; buyer to verify in due diligence.


204 Northwest Hwy sits on the north side of Route 14 in downtown Fox River Grove, directly across the highway from the Fox River Grove Metra station on the Union Pacific Northwest line, between Lincoln Avenue and Illinois Street. Route 14 carries about 25,700 vehicles a day here, including about 1,100 trucks (Illinois Department of Transportation, 2025 average annual daily traffic). The Cary Metra station is 1.3 miles northwest and O'Hare about 29 miles southeast (CoStar).

The Village of Fox River Grove owns six of the ten parcels on the 200 block of Northwest Highway: 212 Northwest Hwy and four rear lots, bought in July 2021 for a combined $500,000 and now the commuter parking lot next door, and 207 Opatrny Drive, the house touching this parcel's rear line, bought April 29, 2026 for $126,000 (McHenry County Treasurer sales records). The 2015 Downtown TIF District #2 plan lists this parcel by PIN inside Redevelopment Opportunity Site 2, a 43-parcel, 8.5-acre site along the north side of Route 14 with retail and mixed use as the proposed use; the plan authorizes property assembly and states that designation implies no immediate requirement to redevelop. Across Illinois Street, the Village approved Block B on May 5, 2026: a 97-unit, five-story building with about 6,000 SF of restaurant space, completion targeted for 2028. IDOT's FY2025-2030 program carries a resurfacing of Route 14 through town with new ADA ramps; no realignment or widening is programmed on this stretch.