Caterpillar's 350-Acre Aurora Plant Site Hits The Market

AURORA, IL — Less than a year after announcing its closure, Caterpillar has put its massive manufacturing plant near Aurora on the market. The plant, which spans more than 350 acres between Orchard Rd. and Rte. 31, includes a helipad, a BNSF railroad spur, and its own wastewater treatment plant, Crain's Chicago Business reports.

Caterpillar announced its plans to close last March after occupying the plant for nearly 60 year. Production is slated to stop at the plant at the end of 2018.

With the closure will come the layoff of 800 plant employees and Caterpillar's and production lines housed at the plant will move to Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Caterpillar plant has been a significant part of the area's local economy for the past six decades. In August 2017, after the initial news of the closure came, Kendall County officials organized a special Cat Task Force dedicated to "cooperatively develop a plan for the future of the site and its workers."

In an August 2017 press release, Kendall County said the plant's closure would result in over $465,000 in lost property tax revenue, in addition to lost sales,

The Kendall County Cat Task Force's goals are to "marketing and selling the facility, retraining workers for new jobs in the area, and continuing to build a resilient and business-friendly environment in Kendall County."

>>Related: Caterpillar Closing Montgomery Area Manufacturing Plant

Caterpillar is aiming to find a single buyer for the plant property, Crain's reports, but an increasing amount of manufacturing companies have been looking away from Chicagoland and setting their sights on sites in the southern U.S.

"The probability of a single user coming in or taking all the 3.5 to 4 million square feet … is extremely low," Brian King of global commercial real estate giant Colliers International, told Crain's.

No price has been listed for the Caterpillar plant site yet.

>>Photo Credit: Patrick Martin

>>More via Crain's Chicago Business