OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2013. Thea Chicago Deprtment of Aviation (CDA) celebrated the groundbreaking today of a new USD35 million dollar DHL Global Forwarding Center located Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

The facility includes 53,000-square-feet of office space and 423,030-square-feet of warehousing space. DHL's move will create hundreds of construction jobs, as well as bring 500 permanent jobs to Chicago. This facility will be the largest DHL Global Forwarding building in the U.S.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined CDA Commissioner Rosemarie S. Andolino, Chicago Alderman Mary O'Connor (41st Ward); Aeroterm Executive Vice President Erin Gruver and DHL Global Forwarding USA CEO Christoph Remund in the speaking program and groundbreaking.

 "I am excited by the economic promise that this new cargo center holds for the City of Chicago," said Mayor Emanuel. "O'Hare is one of our City's key economic engines and with this strong commitment by DHL Global Forwarding we will vastly increase O'Hare's cargo operation capabilities, and will continue to move Chicago forward as a global transportation leader. This is just one of several recent private commercial investments that are generating opportunities for the people of Chicago."

The facility will be funded and developed by Aeroterm on a 24-acre parcel of land Aeroterm leases at O'Hare.  This investment is part of Aeroterm's larger undertaking at O'Hare which approaches \\$400 million in investments. The DHL center, along with Aeroterm's other Northeast Cargo development currently underway, brings O'Hare's total on-airport cargo facility square footage to approximately 4,000.000-square-feet - the most usable space for cargo of any gateway passenger airport in North America.

"On behalf of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I want to thank DHL and Aeroterm for making a major investment at O'Hare International Airport, which demonstrates that Chicago is a leader in the global supply chain and is a prime location for doing business," said Commissioner Andolino. "With this investment, along with many others at the airport, we are ensuring that O'Hare will continue to be a powerful economic engine and one of the world's leading transportation hubs."

The building is also slated to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and is expected to be completed by November 2014.