Amazon has paid more than $21 million for about 35 acres of land near Chicago, moving one step closer to launching its largest-ever store format.
Seattle-based Amazon earlier this month bought the site at the southwest corner of 159th Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park, Illinois, according to Cook County property records.
The land purchase was completed less than a month after the board of trustees in the village southwest of Chicago voted to approve Amazon’s plans for a large-format store on the site.
The e-commerce giant plans to launch a new concept there. The 229,000-square-foot store will sell a wide range of items such as groceries and household items, with a small warehouse component to support operations of the facility.
The land price was $21.5 million, according to property records. The seller was an affiliate of James Dremonas’ Pete’s Market grocery-store chain. For decades, the Dremonas family ran a restaurant called Petey’s II on a portion of the land sold to Amazon.
Buying the development site is a key step toward starting construction, but it’s unclear how soon Amazon plans to break ground.
An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.
Last month, Orland Park officials said the store will open sometime in 2027, with the project expected to create 200 construction jobs and 500 permanent jobs.
The sprawling store appears to be Amazon’s answer to rivals such as Walmart and Target, two companies that have huge stores near Amazon’s Orland Park site.
The site also is near the Orland Square shopping mall.
The village’s plan commission approved the project in January, followed by approval from the village board later that month.