John Deere has purchased 234 acres near Lowell in Lake County to build a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility according to a press release from Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty.
John Deere has spent $7 million on the site, with plans for the facility to be longer on its side than the Willis Tower—formerly Sears Tower—a 110-story, 1,451-foot skyscraper in Chicago.
In addition, it is estimated that the project will create approximately 1,200 union construction jobs and 400-500 permanent positions upon completion.
The location is at 2105 W. 181st Ave. in Lowell—just southwest of the interchange of I-65 South and State Road 2.
The announcement of John Deere’s acquisition of the land in northwestern Indiana comes less than a week after the company announced it would be laying off workers across the Midwest.
Around 610 production staff at plants in Illinois and Iowa have been notified they will be out of a job by the end of the summer.
The company is eliminating around 280 positions from a plant in East Moline, Illinois, while another 230 employees are being let go at a factory in Davenport, Iowa. About 100 production positions at the company’s Dubuque, Iowa, plant will also be eliminated.
The company claimed the layoffs were necessary because there has been a reduction in demand for products produced at some of its facilities in Iowa and Illinois.
In June, John Deere announced it is moving the manufacturing of skid steer loaders and compact track loaders from its Dubuque, Iowa facility to Mexico by the end of 2026.
John Deere says it generated nearly $10.2 billion in profits in 2023, while the company’s CEO, John May, received $26.7 million in total compensation in 2023 according to the company’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). May’s compensation in 2022 was listed at $20.3 million.
