Amazon nails down another 650K sf worth of Illinois warehouses

Amazon is continuing its land grab in Illinois. The e-commerce company inked a deal for more than 650,000 square feet of warehouse space in the Chicago suburbs

Amazon signed a lease for two industrial buildings in Downers Grove totaling 504,000 square feet and a 162,000-square-foot warehouse deal in Palatine, Crain’s reported.

Both locations are situated along major highways. The two new locations add to Amazon’s already-impressive Chicago-area portfolio. The Seattle-based company has landed multiple massive properties in the last year in Skokie, Melrose Park, Bolingbrook and are in talks for another in Pullman.

They aren’t the only retailer taking advantage of the commercial real estate boom. Target has also been gobbling up properties in Chicago with a lease for a Little Village warehouse, as well as the largest industrial lease in the Chicago market on a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse in Joliet, according to Colliers.

Amazon did not say how many employees will work at the new facilities but other locations, such as their Bolingbrook warehouse, would employ up to 1,500 people with a $15 hourly wage (the mayor of Bolingbrook opposes the project). The company is the ninth-biggest employer in the Chicago area according to a list compiled by Crain’s.

The new warehouse at 315 S. Hicks Road in Palatine will be built by Conor Commercial Real Estate and replace the former H.B. Fuller factory on the property. It is slated to be completed in September.

In December, The Real Deal took a deep dive into why Amazon leases its distribution centers instead of buying the real estate. [Crain’s] — Jacqueline Flynn