One of the biggest proposed office-to-industrial conversions in the country has been called off after the would-be buyer of Baxter International’s more than 100-acre campus abandoned its plans amid vocal opposition from neighbors in Chicago’s northern suburbs.
Employees were told Wednesday that the medical products company is taking the property off the for-sale market and plans to remain at its longtime campus in Deerfield, Illinois, after Chicago-based developer Bridge Industrial decided against buying and redeveloping the site.
The announcement is a victory for neighbors who fought against the proposal in a high-profile example of clashes throughout the country between homeowners and industrial developers plus logistics companies looking to move closer to the customers buying products online.
It’s a major setback for a developer known for big industrial projects nationally and internationally.
Baxter’s announcement comes a week after Deerfield’s mayor, Daniel Shapiro, publicly pledged to block Bridge’s project.
Baxter Chairman, President and CEO José “Joe” Almeida told company employees in an email that “the prospective buyer has decided not to move forward with its development proposal for our property.”
In the email, Almeida said the company instead will end efforts to sell the property and that the headquarters will remain in place. Previously, Baxter had said it would move somewhere nearby after a property sale.
Baxter has been on the campus since 1975.
The company confirmed in a separate email to CoStar News that Bridge has informed Baxter it no longer plans to move forward with the project.
Office Campus Conversions
Other decades-old office campuses throughout the country are being converted to logistics campuses, including Dermody Properties’ ongoing redevelopment of Allstate’s 232-acre former headquarters in Glenview, Illinois, also north of Chicago. That Reno, Nevada-based developer also wants to demolish two other office buildings in Glenview for another industrial project.
“Baxter remains committed to delivering a refreshed workspace that is well suited to collaboration, communication, and innovation,” Almeida said in the email.
Although the campus has a Deerfield address, it lies in unincorporated Lake County.
Bridge had been seeking approval to demolish office buildings on the site and replace them with warehouses. The developer sought to have the property annexed into Deerfield while seeking approval from that village for a warehouse redevelopment.
But neighbors, including residents of the nearby Thorngate residential community in Riverwoods, Illinois, for months have spoken out against the project, citing truck traffic and other concerns.
In April, the crowd for a meeting of Deerfield’s plan commission grew so large it had to be postponed and later moved to a larger venue, a high school gymnasium. After that meeting was then held, Bridge in June withdrew its proposal with Deerfield before later holding a preliminary meeting with a different jurisdiction, the Lake County Planning, Building and Development Department, to potentially revive the plan.
The county last week released a report from the initial meeting, revealing that Bridge planned warehouses of 645,000 and 180,000 square feet, down from an initially proposed total of almost 1.3 million square feet of industrial and recreational space.
After the report was released, Shapiro spoke out against the project, following previously stated opposition by Kristine Ford, Riverwoods’ mayor and village president.
Bridge did not immediately respond to requests to comment from CoStar News.
“Plans are underway to improve the Deerfield campus, ensuring that colleagues in business segments are seated together,” Almeida said in the message to employees. “We are also evaluating how we can best utilize our footprint more efficiently across Northern Illinois. Our teams are actively advancing this work, and we will update you with more information in the coming weeks.”