Walgreens Downplays Report Of Move To Downtown Chicago
(CBS) – Deerfield-based Walgreens is downplaying a media report that it is mulling a corporate move to downtown Chicago.
The drug store giant has been eyeing the old Post Office building west of the Loop, along the Eisenhower Expressway, according to a Crain's Chicago Business article posted Thursday.
The former Post Office that straddles Congress Parkway was bought by British investor Bill Davies in 2009 for $24 million and has languished, despite lavish plans for a hotel and apartments.
Crain's reports Walgreens has talked to Mayor Emanuel's administration about the move and spoken to Gov. Quinn's office about possible tax breaks.
But a Walgreens spokesman signaled the report is highly speculative.
"Walgreens is always conducting due diligence on our corporate footprint and have done studies in the past. We have not engaged in developers on any new locations for our corporate headquarters," Michael Polzin, a Walgreens spokesman said in a written statement to CBS 2.
Also Thursday, Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal released a statement noting Walgreens has made an "ongoing multi-million dollar investment" in its corporate headquarters.
"This would support that the headquarters employment base will remain here for the foreseeable future. The Village has received confirmation from Walgreen that they are not engaged with developers on any new locations for their corporate headquarters," Rosenthal said.