NEW AMAZON FACILITY SET FOR UNIVERSITY PARK

University Park Mayor Joseph E. Roudez III (pictured) was instrumental in Amazon building its latest fulfi llment center in the South Suburb. The $150 million facility will be 1.2 million square feet and is set to bring more than 800 jobs. Photo courtesy of Joseph E. Roudez
University Park Mayor Joseph E. Roudez III (pictured) was instrumental in Amazon building its latest fulfi llment center in the South Suburb. The $150 million facility will be 1.2 million square feet and is set to bring more than 800 jobs. Photo courtesy of Joseph E. Roudez

New Amazon facility set for University Park

BY TIA CAROL JONES

A new Amazon distribution and warehousing facility is set for University Park. The $150 million facility will be 1.2 million square feet and has the potential to bring more than 800 jobs to the Southland suburb. Construction began on the week of April 13, west of Cicero Avenue and east of I-57.

“Amazon is excited to announce our continued investment in Illinois with a new operations facility in University Park,” Amazon said in a statement. “More than 800 new, full time employees at the more than one million square foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship large customer items, such as sports equipment, patio furniture, kayaks, bicycles and larger household goods.”

According to University Park Mayor Joseph E. Roudez III, it started with a call on Nov. 8, between himself and a representative from the company. And after that, Amazon and University Park decided to move forward and negotiate terms. Then, there was a meeting with the developers.

“I was sworn to an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement, which made it extremely difficult and challenging on how to get things passed with my board of trustees, because as everybody speaks about nowadays, transparency,” he said. “So, I was under this non-disclosure [agreement] since Nov. 10 and able to talk to my village board members and tell them that there’s a fantastic project and that it had the potential to bring 800-plus jobs.”

It started out as Project Bluebird and was estimated to be about 650,000 square feet and employing about 4-500 people. Then, they changed the project to Project Condor, making it a $150 million project at 1.2 million square feet.

“We’re doubling up and we’re making not just a big impact on University Park, but on the Southland region,” Roudez said.

Roudez said a majority of the members on the village board were in support of the project, but the only people other than Roudez who knew about the deal was Village Manager Ernestine Beck-Fulgham and TIF Attorney Kathy Orr.

“I know this is a project that can definitely change the face of University Park and give us that market presence as a community that we can be a vital source, not just in Eastern Will County, but in the Southland, period, and the state, with the third largest industrial park in the state,” he said. “It is a huge opportunity and the residents really deserve to have something for their tax dollars, to have [the] opportunity to have employment close to home and a decent living for their family.”

Beck-Fulgham said in a statement that she believes the village is in an excellent position to bring more companies to University Park.

“We have the infrastructure in place and economic development incentives to be competitive. Now, we are seeing the fruits of our labor and a direct benefit to our residents who get hiring preferences and homeowners who get property tax relief,” she said.

Roudez said it’s a win-win for everybody and it was a tough negotiation, but in the end, it all worked out. He added the location is ideal because it is right next to the expressway and said the location will also help University Park develop the Cicero Corridor. The hope is that it will bring retail to the site.

“University Park is going [to] have a whole new look, rebranding, repurposing,” he said. “That was my campaign stump to rebrand and rebuild and get this town to move,” Roudez stated.

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