Amazon Chicago – Amazon has purchased a long-vacant, two-story warehouse in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood for $195 million, planning to launch a same-day fulfillment center by late 2027.
The colorful, mural-covered structure that has loomed over the Kennedy Expressway as a vacant landmark since 2024 is finally set to come to life. Amazon confirmed last week it has purchased the two-story, roughly 590,000-square-foot warehouse at 1237 W. Division St. for $195 million.
For the company, the site—Chicago’s first vertical logistics building—is more than just real estate. It represents a strategic shift toward hyper-local logistics. By moving inventory closer to the city center. Amazon aims to shrink delivery windows from days to a matter of hours. The facility will function as a “sub-same day fulfillment center,” handling items like groceries and pharmaceuticals that require rapid turnover.
Operations are expected to begin by late 2027 or early 2028. While the warehouse features truck docks on both floors and over 1. 000 parking spaces. the delivery model will rely on Amazon Flex drivers using their own vehicles. rather than the company’s dedicated fleet of electric Rivian vans. The project is expected to create 200 jobs, ranging from fulfillment to managerial positions, with average hourly wages near $24. Existing Amazon employees in Chicago will be eligible to transfer to the new site.
“Doing this allows us to effectively make a delivery in a matter of a couple of hours instead of a couple of days and really shortens that distance that any vehicle needs to travel to reach customers. ” said Kyle DeGiulio. Amazon’s senior manager of economic development policy for the Midwest. He added, “It’s almost like this building was built for us to use.”.
The choice of the West Town location is a calculated play for efficiency. With proximity to the Loop and O’Hare Airport—as well as key thoroughfares like Elston Avenue—the site offers the rapid highway access necessary for urban logistics. Although DeGiulio acknowledged the area’s existing traffic congestion. he noted that city infrastructure improvements. such as the replacement of the two Division Street bridges. made the location particularly attractive.
Logistics Property Co. broke ground on the project in 2022 and utilized the real estate firm JLL to market the property, which sits in an area boasting an estimated $2 billion in e-commerce sales within a five-mile radius. Logistics Property declined to comment on the sale.
This will be Amazon’s second same-day facility in the city. following a 2023 opening in West Humboldt Park that drew significant local pushback. For now. the company sees this new. highly visible site near Goose Island as a better fit for the surrounding infrastructure than previous. less integrated locations.
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