Jones Lang LaSalle has closed the sale of a 13.5-acre parcel on Chicago’s South Side on behalf of Monroe Investment Partners LLC . Walmart purchased the shovel-ready pad in the Chatham Market shopping center on 83rd Street and S. Holland Road, where it plans to open a 155,000-square-foot Supercenter.
This will be the first of six new stores Walmart plans to build in the City of Chicago. Walmart has also committed to a supercenter in the Pullman neighborhood that will open in 2013. The retailer has planned two of its Walmart Market concepts for the West Loop at Presidential Towers, opening later this year, and for the West Englewood neighborhood, opening in 2012. Two Walmart Express concepts, stores less than 30,000 square feet, are scheduled for the West Chatham and West Englewood neighborhoods as well, with expected opening dates of 2011 and 2012 respectively.
The firm has also been in talks to bring the Walmart Express concept to the Lakeview neighborhood on the city’s North Side, but has been met with resistance by area residents.
The Chatham Market is a 450,000-square-foot shopping center that is already home to a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, a Potbelly’s Sandwich Shop, and an Aldi grocery store that is under construction and scheduled to open June 1.
Leading the Jones Lang LaSalle team on this assignment were Tom Kirschbraun, managing director, Meredith O’Connor, managing director, and Edward Lewis, vice president.
“Walmart’s commitment to this major power center, with both a Supercenter and an Express store, will be a major boon to consumers on Chicago’s South Side,” said Kirschbraun, in a released statement. “Construction of the Supercenter is expected to get underway by late-April and the store is expected to be open by the end of 2011 or early 2012. Beyond the initial construction jobs, the new stores will create hundreds of permanent jobs for Chicago residents. Considering this, along with new sales and property taxes for the City.”
Chatham Market is located on the site of the former Ryerson Steel facility covering 50 acres between 83rd and 87th Streets just west of the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94). The Walmart Supercenter will be centrally located on the site adjacent to Lowe’s and will feature a full grocery department. The Walmart Express will operate in an existing building at the 83rd Street entrance to Chatham Market, and will offer a limited line of groceries as well as pharmacy services.
