Wheeling Buys Former Wickes Furniture HQ

WHEELING, IL-The village of Wheeling has bought the 11-acre former Wickes Furniture site at 351 W. Dundee. The village purchased the parcel for $3.8 million this week, with the intent to redevelop the property into a mixed-use project with residential and commercial, says Alain LeCoque, EVP with Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler, which marketed the property. The property includes a 210,000-square-foot building, constructed in 1982, which once housed a distribution center and corporate headquarters for the now defunct Wickes Furniture Co., which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

“The real value is in the land, not in the building,” LeCoque tells GlobeSt.com. “This gives the village better control of the redevelopment process, and allows them to partner with a developer and have control over what is developed and the quality and mix of uses. Their preference has been for a mix of residential and retail.”

The acquisition is expected to close by year’s end. The village bid on the site at an auction for the property held Nov. 10, and a bankruptcy court affirmed Wheeling as the buyer this week. LeCoque says the village’s offer was the best price with the least contingencies presented at last week’s auction.