President Dominick announces Amazon to open two fulfillment centers in Cicero

New warehouse will reduce tax burden on Cicero residents by generating business real estate tax revenues and create hundreds of new job opportunities for Cicero residents

The Town of Cicero has been selected as the newest location in the expansion of the mega-retailer Amazon following negotiations with Town President Larry Dominick.

Dominick said Amazon, which employs more than 23,000 full and part-time workers in Illinois, plans to hire 15,000 more workers to staff fulfillment centers in several planned new warehouse sites including two that will open in Cicero.

The Amazon fulfillment center, which processes online orders from its popular website, will be located in two 575,000 square feet warehouses operated by Bridgepoint 290 Partners (Bridge Development Partners) and located at 1400 S. Laramie Avenue.

Bridge Development rendering of properties located at 14th and Laramie in the Town of Cicero. Image courtesy of Bridge Development

Dominick negotiated the expansion of Bridgepoint to Cicero with the opening of their first location in 2017 and the inauguration of a second location that opened in 2018.

“Cicero has become one of the most popular destinations for the building of new businesses and new industries, and for the expansion of existing business chains,” President Dominick said Wednesday Aug. 19, 2020.

“We have welcomed many new major retail businesses to Cicero including Walmart, Menards, Break Through Beverage (formerly Wirtz Beverage), Bimbo Bakery, Sonic Restaurant, Fuller’s Car Wash and CubeSmart storage, to just name a few. They have all chosen Cicero because of the benefits that the Town’s location offers.”

Rendering of Bridge Development Partners property in Cicero

Dominick said that since taking office in 2005, his priorities have included making Cicero one of the safest communities in the Chicagoland region, and converting abandoned industrial lands for business development.

Dominick said the new businesses will not only generate new real estate property tax revenues that will reduce the tax burden on residents, but will also create new jobs and employment opportunities for Cicero’s residents.

“I understand that Amazon is already advertising for the new jobs that their fulfillment warehouse locations will be creating,” Dominick said.

“The fact that these major national companies have selected Cicero as their new location is a testament to the success we are enjoying as a community in making the Town of Cicero a much sought-after destination.”

Dominick said he had several meetings with Amazon representatives during the past year. And while Cicero touted its many advantages, Dominick said no incentives were requested or given to seal Amazon’s site selection decision.

“The taxpayers are not paying to get these businesses. These businesses want to be here,” Dominick said.

Bridge Development Partners bought a 33-acre property in Cicero in 2018, with plans for its latest venture into the hot industrial market.

The Chicago-based developer bought the land at 1400 South Laramie Avenue for for $11.7 million from Meridian Rail Corporation. It plans to build two industrial buildings on the site, one about 343,000 square feet and the other about 233,000 square feet, according to Cook County documents.

The complex would be next to Bridge Development’s Bridge Point 290 facility at 1531 South 54th Avenue, a 323,000-square-foot industrial building, purchased in 2017.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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