The tire manufacturer has purchased its long-occupied Wilmington distribution facility, taking ownership of one of two super-regional hubs supporting its U.S. logistics network.
Michelin North America has acquired a 2 million-square-foot distribution center in Wilmington, Illinois, for $151 million, taking ownership of a major U.S. tire logistics facility it has occupied for more than a decade.
The transaction closed on October 6, 2026, and includes the distribution building and an adjacent land parcel, according to an October 13 announcement from GFH Partners, one of the property’s former owners.
Located on a 91-acre site in Will County, southwest of Chicago, the facility is one of Michelin’s two super-regional distribution centers in the United States. It supports more than 400 employees and plays a significant role in the company’s domestic tire distribution network.
The purchase marks a change in ownership rather than an expansion of Michelin’s warehouse footprint. The tire manufacturer has operated from the Wilmington location since 2015 and was the property’s sole occupant before acquiring it.
A major hub in Michelin’s U.S. distribution network
The Wilmington facility is an established hub for Michelin’s tire inventory moving through the United States.
According to GFH Partners, the warehouse handles a substantial portion of Michelin’s imported inventory and forms part of a two-center super-regional distribution network.
Previous reporting on the facility’s operations indicates that it supports distribution to tire dealers and automotive customers across the Midwest and western United States.
Its scale reflects the demands of a large tire distribution operation, where extensive storage capacity and access to regional freight corridors are important to inventory movement and customer replenishment.
The acquisition gives Michelin direct ownership of a property it previously leased, providing greater control over decisions concerning the facility. Michelin has not publicly explained why it chose to purchase the property at this time.
The transaction announcement disclosed no changes to warehouse operations, employment levels or distribution arrangements.
Facility developed and expanded over the past decade
The Wilmington property was originally developed as a build-to-suit distribution center for Michelin, which began operating there in 2015.
The facility later underwent a substantial expansion to accommodate the company’s growing warehouse requirements.
Illinois municipal redevelopment records document a completed expansion of approximately 330,000 square feet, bringing the building’s total area to about 1.98 million square feet.
That earlier development accounts for the property’s current reported size of approximately 2 million square feet. It predates the October 2026 acquisition, which involves an existing operational warehouse rather than newly constructed capacity.
The property’s ownership previously changed in 2021, when Transwestern Investment Group sold the facility to Silver Creek Development, with GFH Partners participating in the investment.
During their ownership, the investors expanded trailer parking capacity and secured an early extension of Michelin’s lease, according to the seller’s announcement.
Michelin’s latest purchase transfers ownership from GFH Partners and Silver Creek Development to the company already operating the distribution center.
Strategic location in Chicago’s industrial corridor
The facility stands at 29900 S. Graaskamp Boulevard within Elion Logistics Park 55, a major industrial development in the Wilmington area.
According to earlier Transwestern property disclosures, the broader logistics park covers approximately 2,500 acres and was developed around access to Interstate 55 and the Chicago region’s freight transportation infrastructure.
The site offers connections to interstate highways and nearby BNSF Railway and Union Pacific intermodal facilities, supporting freight movement between metropolitan Chicago and markets across the central United States.
For Michelin, the location provides an established distribution base within one of the country’s major logistics regions.
The combination of warehouse scale, trailer infrastructure and regional transportation access makes the property well suited to a super-regional distribution operation.
The acquisition announcement does not, however, indicate any planned changes to Michelin’s transportation arrangements or distribution network.
Ownership changes without announced capacity expansion
Michelin’s $151 million purchase is notable for the scale and operational importance of the property being acquired.
Unlike a new distribution center development, the transaction does not add 2 million square feet of warehouse capacity to the market. Instead, Michelin is converting a long-standing leased facility into a company-owned logistics asset.
That distinction is important for warehouse developers, industrial property investors and infrastructure suppliers assessing the transaction’s implications.
Although the purchase establishes Michelin’s ownership of a major operational facility, it does not itself generate new construction activity.
Nor does the announcement identify plans for additional warehouse expansion, automation systems, material-handling upgrades or other capital improvements.
For the industrial real estate sector, the transaction illustrates how a large, purpose-built distribution property can move from investment ownership to direct ownership by its operating tenant.
Michelin now owns a strategically located distribution center that has supported its U.S. tire logistics operations for more than a decade, with no announced change to the facility’s capacity or operations.