Morton Salt plans to close its longtime packaging and warehouse facility on North Elston Avenue next month, the company announced Tuesday.
The closing of the facility, which has packed and stored melting salts and other bulk salts since 1929, will affect 23 employees and follows a study begun a year ago of Morton’s operations. The Chicago-based company has more than 20 production sites in its network, but its facility in the city’s Goose Island neighborhood is the only one slated to close.
Despite the end of production at the facility, at 1357 N. Elston Ave., the company plans to maintain some presence there and isn’t willing to say for certain whether it will sell the 4.5-acre parcel to one of the many developers circling the area for buildings to repurpose and land to redevelop. The property is in a planned manufacturing district.
“We have not made any decisions with respect to our buildings and the property there,” said spokeswoman Denise Lauer. “We certainly recognize the importance and the legacy of Morton Salt in Chicago. It’s too early to comment. We know this site is important. We want to explore the possibilities.”
So would developers like Matt Garrison, managing principal of R2 Cos., a real estate investment firm that is actively seeking deals in the neighborhood. Morton Salt’s property is bounded by West Blackhawk Street on the north, West Potomac Avenue on the south, Elston on the west and the Chicago River on the east.
“We’d be interested in the site,” Garrison said. “What Goose Island is going to be is a hub of commercial activity with all this residential around it. This area is going to be a new kind of manufacturing, the manufacturing of ideas and intellectual property and innovation. You see it with UI Labs, with Amazon, with Trunk Club.”
For a longtime owner like Morton, the growth around it has meant more traffic headaches. Also, the land is too valuable to sit fallow and not transition to another use, particularly because of the demand for brick buildings in good shape that can be repurposed.
On Goose Island itself, UI Labs opened its digital manufacturing institute earlier this year. Amazon plans a warehouse on Goose Island, and Trunk Club will take space there too.
New City will bring stores, entertainment and dining options, 1,000 parking spaces, 1,200 jobs and a residential tower to Clybourn and Division. Nearby, Gerding Edlen is nearing completion of Xavier, an 18-story, 240-unit apartment building.
As for Morton’s site, “I could see more high-tech research and development,” said Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, although he hoped the iconic building emblazoned with the company name would survive any redevelopment.
“Morton Salt is not only an identity in Chicago and nationwide but it’s like an identifier of the community. You say, ‘Hey, I’m over here by the Morton Salt.’ We would love to keep their brand.”
Late last year a wall at the Morton facility collapsed, half-burying a dozen cars at a neighboring Acura dealer lot in salt.
Morton will relocate from its current headquarters, at 123 N. Wacker Drive, to 444 W. Lake St., in December 2016.
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