Walmart leases 1M-sf warehouse

Retail giant inks space at CenterPoint’s newly built Joliet complex

3501 Brandon Road in Joliet with CenterPoint Properties CEO Bob Chapman and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon (CREXI)
3501 Brandon Road in Joliet with CenterPoint Properties CEO Bob Chapman and Walmart CEO Doug McMillon (CREXI)

Retail giant Walmart inked a lease for a massive warehouse in Joliet, as the race for more industrial space amid the e-commerce boom continues.

The company will occupy the 1.1 million-square-foot complex at 3501 Brandon Road, according to Crain’s.

CenterPoint Properties owns and developed the property, which was built on spec and completed last year. The developer is planning another two warehouses of about the same size, according to the report.

It will be the second enormous industrial complex in the area for Walmart. The company also has a 1.6 million-square-foot distribution center in Elwood, and a 1 million-square-foot building in Spring Valley.

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Walmart’s fourth-quarter earnings missed Wall Street’s expectations, though sales at stores open at least a year ticked up 8.6 percent and online sales jumped 69 percent, both year-over-year, Business Insider reported in February. In January, Walmart said it plans to set up robot-staffed mini warehouses — around 30,000 square feet — in dozens of its stores.

Amid the pandemic, retail giants like Walmart, Target, Amazon — especially Amazon — and others have leased up large amounts of industrial space. Chicago and Illinois as a whole have benefited. Last month, Prologis paid nearly $100 million for a 330,000-square-foot Goose Island warehouse and office building.

In addition to leasing millions of square feet in the Chicago area, Amazon has also been known to buy large development sites.

[Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman