Chew on this: Former Wrigley gum factory pitched as potential Amazon warehouse

After 14-years of sitting empty, a former Wrigley gum factory in Bridgeport is finally getting a makeover, and brokers are looking to fill it with tenants.

The warehouse at 3535 S. Ashland Ave. produced Juicy Fruit and Spearmint gum before its closure in 2006. Six years later, Mars Corporation sold the brick factory to a group of investors in Dupage County for $5 million. But now, brokers at NAI Hiffman have been hired by new owners to find tenants for a new 260,000-square-foot building to be developed on the property.

Construction on the new development, now dubbed South Branch Commerce Center, is slated to begin this summer and be finished by the end of the year, John Basile, senior vice president at NAI Hiffman, told the Sun-Times. Karis Industrial and Stonemont Financial Group bought the property last year, according to the Sun-Times, though the deal has not yet appeared in public records.

The $23 million redevelopment of the property would appear to be a prime candidate for Amazon, which has scooped up numerous last-mile warehouses in the area of late. The e-commerce giant has signed on to lease a 237,000-square-foot facility in Skokie, as well as a 150,000-square-foot development on the former Ryerson Steel property.

“Every industrial developer has ambitions to do a deal with Amazon,” Basile told the Sun-Times. “We’ve spoken with all logical parties.”

No official deal has been formulated but the development is ideal for the e-commerce giant. The property is located close to the Orange Line and includes plans to provide over 630 parking spaces.

“This large site allows the developer to include the truck-maneuvering capabilities found in suburban sites but at a city location only 10 minutes from downtown, the thriving West Loop and the Fulton Market District,” said executive vice president for NAI Hiffman to the Sun-Times. [Sun-Times] — Jacqueline Flynn