Amazon doubling its corporate office in Chicago

Amazon plans to double the size of its corporate office in downtown Chicago.

The office in the Loop "is home to more than 200 employees today and is growing," the city of Chicago said in a news release. Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined what was called "a grand opening" of the office Monday, though it actually opened a year ago.

Amazon said it recently signed a lease to make room in the office for another 200 employees.

The event occurred in advance of Amazon's Prime Day, in which starting Monday evening the shopping site is offering deals on hundreds of thousands of products worldwide.

The office expansion comes with Amazon's expanding logistics operations in Illinois, Crain's Chicago Business reports. It employs about 6,000 people in the state and plans to add 2,000 workers in the next 18 months as it opens fulfillment centers in Monee, Aurora and Waukegan, alongside those already underway in Joliet and Romeoville and downstate Edwardsville.