KAR Auction Services will be opening an ADESA facility in the nation’s third-largest metropolitan area. On Thursday morning, KAR announced the development of ADESA Chicago, which will be located in Hoffman Estates, Ill., near I-90.

The auction is expected to open in spring 2016, the company said. KAR plans to develop 65 acres for the auction and has the option to increase it to 150 acres.

“As we have discussed in our recent earnings calls, we have a responsibility to deploy capital in a manner that provides a return to our shareholders. Identifying opportunities for strategic growth has been a priority of KAR,” said Jim Hallett, KAR chairman of the board and chief executive officer. “The investment in an ADESA auction facility in Chicago is just one example of how we can deploy our capital to expand our market share, serve additional customers and enhance our financial performance.

“We will not only serve the Chicago market with a new physical auction facility, but I see an opportunity to expand the use of our online offerings in Chicago,” he continued.

Hallett added: “We are clearly focused on growing our market share in the wholesale used car auction market and expanding our service offerings. This greenfield development and the recent announcement of the acquisition of Pittsburgh Auto Auction demonstrate our commitment to brick-and-mortar locations.

“Our investment in TradeRev in the last half of 2014 expands our reach into the dealer-to-dealer activity that occurs outside the wholesale auction process. We continue look for other opportunities to invest in the growth for all of KAR’s businesses.”

This latest move continues a busy spring for ADESA and KAR.

In March, ADESA subsidiary AutoVIN announced it had signed a definitive agreement to purchase the vehicle inspection business of DataScan Field Services. That news came shortly after ADESA announced it was purchasing Pittsburgh Auto Auction.

The strategy described above by Hallett was echoed by ADESA president and CEO Stephane St-Hilaire when Auto Remarketing talked with him at the NAAA/IARA/CAR Conference in Las Vegas in March, two days after ADESA’s purchase of the Pittsburgh auction.

“We are that end-to-end remarketing service organization. With that, there are some areas in the country that we feel like we could service better or (that are a) significant market in the country where we believe that we would want a physical presence,” St-Hilaire said during that interview. “And we’re really working that physical along with that digital presence, because we believe that the two go hand-in-hand.”