Morton Salt Warehouse Will Get $20M Facelift But Keep Iconic Roof

CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago developer will spend $20 million to turn the 89-year-old Morton Salt warehouse along the Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River into an office, retail and entertainment space, according to Crain's Chicago Business. R2, the development firm behind the renovation of the 4.25-acre site, announced the project Monday and will call the facility the Salt District.

Although Morton Salt moved out of the warehouse in 2015, the company will relocate its research and development department to the building in 2020, the report stated. The refurbished multi-use facility also will keep the distinctive Morton Salt-branded rooftop — complete with the company's iconic umbrella-carrying, salt-trailing little girl — the report added.

"I think it's going to be pretty unique in the market in terms of what it is going to bring," Matt Garrison, R2's managing principal, told Crain's.

R2 bought the property, 1329 N. Elston Ave., from Morton's in December for $15 million, the report stated. Besides renovating and reusing the site's 125,000 square feet of buildings for office and retail space, the development firm plans to build an outdoor venue for concerts, festivals and markets that would look out onto a nearly 2-acre park, the report added. A 500-foot riverfront area also is expected to be created, and Garrison told Crain's he could see it becoming a destination for water taxis, boat tours and other Chicago River traffic.

Morton Salt's opened the Elston Avenue warehouse in 1929, and the facility was used for packaging and storing commerical de-icing salt before the company closed the site in 2015, according to Crain's. Although the company was no longer using the property, it did not want to give up the prime advertising spot its roof provided along the Kennedy Expressway, and any sale was contingent on keeping its famous rooftop, the report added.

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Morton Salt warehouse along the Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River (Image via Google Earth)