Brach’s future
ML Realty Partners, which owns the former Brach’s plant and surrounding buildings, will begin demolishing the site this fall. The Itasca-based firm plans to build a roughly 500,000-square-foot commercial building. The plan, according to the firm, is to employ Austin residents and attract interested investors.
“Our goal is to make the property more attractive to prospective tenants,” according to a media statement provided to AWN from the company. “In the future, we intend to construct a commercial building on the property that will create jobs and generate tax revenue. And now is the right time for this work because, as the economy continues to improve, there will be greater demand for such prime commercial property in the city of Chicago.”
The city provided $10.6 million in tax increment financing to ML Realty toward the project. The entire Brach’s site—roughly two million square feet covering 32 acres of land—is zoned for industrial use. The city would have to rezone the site for other uses, including residential.
If housing were an option, Ford stressed that economic conditions would need to right to attract high-quality tenants. “That occurs when they feel that the economy has indeed improved and that they have access to schools and businesses willing to hire,” he said.