In a surprising turn of events, Baxter International will keep and upgrade its headquarters campus in Deerfield, Illinois following the withdrawal of plans by Chicago developer Bridge Industrial to transform it into an industrial park. Crain’s reported on the news.
Baxter CEO José Almeida wrote a letter to employees confirming that the company is no longer working with JLL to sell their campus and they are committed to upgrading their current site instead. This decision comes after local opposition and pushback from area residents as well as village officials forced Bridge Industrial to withdraw its proposal in June 2020, ultimately leading them away from this project.
This year has been filled with changes for Baxter; they announced plans for spinning off renal care and acute therapies units into an independent publicly traded company while also implementing layoffs along with other cost-cutting moves due to challenges faced during acquisition bids such as Hillrom’s failed bid earlier this year.
