Amazon’s plans for its latest last mile distribution center — the fourth in Chicago — took a major step forward Thursday.
The Chicago Plan Commission gave the first city approval for Amazon’s 235,137-square-foot last mile center at the former Central Steel & Wire plant, 3000 W. 51st St. Amazon purchased the site in 2021 for $35 million — one of its biggest land deals in Chicago at the time.
Amazon’s last mile centers are the final stop in the delivery process before packages arrive at customers’ doors. It also has three other last mile centers in the city, including a Bridgeport location that opened July 2025. At the time, the Bridgeport facility employed about 150.
Amazon has four operations sites with one in Bridgeport, Back of the Yards, Pullman and West Humboldt Park, according to the company. It also has a distribution hub in Gage Park.
The new facility will give Gage Park residents “better, faster, more efficient deliveries,” Kyle DeGuilio, senior manager of economic development policy for Amazon, said.
The development team emphasized the facility will take up three acres on the roughly 69-acre site, with “generous setbacks.” The facility would be at least one football field length, or 360 feet, away from bordering streets. The CTA Orange Line is north of the property.
“We are taking a property that has been fully industrial since the late ’30s … and replacing it with a low-profile, heavily landscaped facility that is greatly about … open space,” said Jeff Cali, senior vice president of development services at Venture One Real Estate. Venture One is developing the property on behalf of Amazon.
Also on the site will be 244 parking spaces and a 4,500-square-foot fleet service building with three loading bays. The development team said most vehicles, including delivery trucks, will arrive and leave outside of rush hour in order to reduce the traffic impact on neighbors. Traffic and pedestrian safety were two of neighbors’ top concerns with the proposed facility, according to Ald. Jeylú Gutiérrez (14th).
Amazon plans to do “significant landscaping” at the site, including trees around the lot’s perimeter to shield it from neighbors, according to its presentation to the commission. Two acres on the southeast corner of the site will also be donated to the Chicago Park District to keep as open space, Cali said. Gutiérrez’s office said Amazon has committed to paying for the development of the park space.
“Over the past several months, I’ve been in regular communications with Amazon. I appreciate their willingness to listen, engage and recognize that they are coming into a community that has been historically been underserved and too often overlooked for investment,” Gutiérrez wrote in a letter of support for the project. “I look forward to continuing to work with Amazon to ensure this investment benefits both the residents of the 14th Ward and the company for years to come.”
If approved, Amazon hopes to start construction in October, with a September 2027 completion.
The development would create about 350 temporary construction jobs. Once operational, Amazon said it will employ roughly 200 employees. Hourly wages would start at $21.50, with benefits. An additional 400 jobs for delivery service partners would be added.