Amazon Buys Old Chicago Property; Mayor Claar Not Happy About It

BOLINGBROOK, IL — Mayor Roger Claar is not happy with Amazon, to put it mildly. The megacorporation, owned by multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, recently purchased the former Old Chicago property from Cox Automotive for about $50 million. After news of the sale broke on Tuesday in the Chicago Tribune and other news outlets, Claar took time during the Bolingbrook village board meeting to address the issue.

"That would be one monstrosity sitting on our skyline," Claar said, referring to the complex Amazon wants to build on the property, which was once home to an amusement park and shopping mall.

By his account, the building will be a distribution/processing facility with an area of roughly 850,000 square feet, standing 100 feet tall. He also said the building will be serviced by a fleet of 200 Amazon semi-trucks, and the company plans to offer 1,500 jobs in the facility.

Patch reached out to Amazon to confirm these claims but did not receive any reply.

Claar said he took issue with several of Amazon's alleged proposals for the building, besides its sheer gargantuan size. The fleet of trucks, he said, would only worsen traffic conditions along the already-busy I-55 corridor. As for the 1,500 proposed Amazon jobs, Claar questioned if they were worth village residents' time or effort.

"They're going to have 1,500 jobs, which on the surface sounds pretty good," Claar said. "But they're $15-an-hour jobs. Folks, that's not even a living wage."

Claar also criticized Amazon for not consulting with village leadership before buying the property from Cox. Several other bidders for the property, Claar said, came before the village board with their proposals to see if they were compatible with what Bolingbrook can accommodate. Amazon, he said, only did so after it had already bought the property.

"Eighteen companies bid on the property ... 17 of the companies, 17 out of 18, either called us, came and met with us, emailed documentation, conference called what they wanted to do with the property ... one of them didn't talk to us at all," Claar said.

He later added that this 18th bidder, Amazon, out-bid every other offer Cox received.

"They out-bid everybody. So it all came down to money," he said.

Amazon did not reply to a request for comment.

While lamenting these facts, Claar said the village board has several methods by which it could force Amazon to either amend its proposal or forestall the facility's construction. Foremost among these are the village's height limit for buildings and the current zoning of the Old Chicago property.

Currently, the village zoning ordinance stipulates that no structure in the village can exceed 70 feet in height, though exceptions can be made via 'special use permits' under the ordinance's article 8. Additionally, the 'Old Chicago' property is currently zoned for commercial use. The uses Claar said Amazon planned for the property do not meet commercial zoning regulations. It is unclear what zoning category a facility of the type Claar said Amazon is planning would fall under.

These issues, Claar said, give the village's Planning and Zoning Commission leverage over Amazon's plans. He added that the village board itself could also vote to deny Amazon a rezoning, or an exception to the height restriction.

"The Planning [and Zoning] Commission can deny it ... If they pass it but the village board votes it down, it's a dead motion," he said.

It is hard to know what measures Amazon could use to convince a skeptical or uncooperative village government to accommodate it. Given the company's recent rate of expansion, it seems unlikely it would cave to local resistance without a fight.

Claar said he intends to fight them all the same. "That's where we are," he said. "There will be more news to come."

Old Chicago opened to fanfare in 1975, but after numerous financial setbacks, "the park closed on March 17, 1980, the rides were sold, and the last remaining stores left soon afterward — only five years after opening," according to the Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commission.

Note: This story was updated at 6:03 p.m., Feb. 12, to correct a factual mistake regarding the Bolingbrook zoning ordinance.