A new $200 million cargo facility on former military land at O’Hare International Airport is expected to open next year.
Aeroterm, which was chosen as developer for the project in 2009 under then-Mayor Richard Daley, plans an 820,000-square-foot facility with an aircraft ramp that can accommodate planes including Boeing’s 747-800 series.
The company will cover $130 million of the $200 million cost, with $62 million coming from airport funds. Daley acquired the onetime military land in 1996. The cargo facility will take up 65 acres.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the construction project Monday.
“The good thing is we did purchase it, but it’s been sitting fallow for a long time,” Emanuel said. “At one point it was going to be developed, the economy went off the skids. With the economy stabilizing, with the pent up demand in the air cargo import-export business, with our desire to build out this capacity … this was the time to actually take it off the shelf, freshen it up, because its core to our economic strategy as a city both on exports, infrastructure and human capacity.”
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The Emanuel administration said the project will create 1,200 construction jobs and another 1,200 jobs at the cargo facility. The administration estimates another 10,000 jobs will be created in the region’s economy as a result of the facility.
The Emanuel administration said the first phase is scheduled to open next year and total completion time is less than 10 years.
The cargo facility needs City Council approval, and the plan is expected to be considered by the aviation committee next month.