City Council approves Mars Wrigley expansion

City Council has approved plans by Mars Wrigley for a new pilot plant on their Goose Island campus. Located at the northern tip of Goose Island, the Mars Wrigley campus is bound by W. Blackhawk st to the south and N. Cherry Ave to the east. The Morton Salt redevelopment is located almost directly across the river to the west.

With a design by CRB Group, the new facility will be a one-story building spanning 45,000 square feet. Placed directly south of the current pilot plant, the 30-foot-tall building has been designed to match the existing buildings on campus, using precast concrete and metal panels in a similar color to the existing plant. 

The program of the building is intended to test and assemble new products, augmenting the services already performed in the existing plant. Some of the spaces include receiving, ingredient processing, a test kitchen, tech development, barline, and storage. Employees will enter at the western side of the building in an outcropping that will hold locker rooms as well as a break room space. This portion of the building will be clad in glass curtain wall to allow for increased light exposure for employees.

Since the new building will replace existing surface parking, Mars Wrigley has acquired the parking lot to the east of N. Cherry Ave and this approval will incorporate it into the campus. Defunct railroad tracks along the parking lot will be replaced with a dedicated bike and pedestrian path.

The development will include new trees planted around the campus and new bike parking. The building is expected to meet LEED Silver and reduce indoor water use by 40%. Construction on the $40 million project is expected to begin in June 2022 and complete one year later in June 2023.