Hamilton Partners to Buy 57-Acre Kraft Foods Office Campus

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Itasca-based developer Hamilton Partners has signed a contract to purchase Kraft Foods Inc.’s office campus in north Glenview and Morton Grove, ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com reports. The 57-acre suburban property, located at Gold and Waukegan roads, includes two buildings with around 500,000 square feet of office space.

Hamilton Partners plans to redevelop the property, and it could in the future include office, retail and medical space, as well as senior housing. Kraft Foods Inc., as part of its planned split into two separate companies, sold the property and will relocate its employees to its Northfield headquarters next year.

Paul Sheridan, partner at Hamilton Partners, described the acquisition as a rare opportunity and the site, due to its size, a bit of a puzzle—but nevertheless great real estate. The terms of the deal were not released, but the developer does not expect to close the purchase until the fourth quarter of 2013. The company has plenty of time to market the site, come up with a detailed plan and obtain the required zoning changes.

Senior-living developers have shown their interest but Hamilton Partners, whilst open to the idea, prefers to concentrate on office and retail.

The 57-acre redevelopment is not the company’s first North Shore development. The most recent large-scale development by the company in the region was Willow Festival, a 400,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Whole Foods. The property was sold by Hamilton in 2010 to Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers Corp. for $64 million.

Paul Sheridon admits the project will face strong competition from existing nearby malls, such as the Glen Town Center and the Westfield Old Orchard Mall. Regency is also planning to build a shopping center on the site of a discontinued Avon Products distribution center southeast of the Kraft property.

Logo Courtesy of: www.hamiltonpartners.com