Report: Baxter International putting its Deerfield campus up for sale

Baxter International has put its Deerfield headquarters up for sale and is hunting for a new one, Crain's Chicago Business reported Wednesday night.

The medical products giant has hired brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle to sell its sprawling 101-acre campus, according to a marketing flyer and a Baxter spokesman. There is no asking price listed for the property, which includes 10 buildings totaling nearly 646,000 square feet between Saunders Road and Interstate 94/294 north of Lake-Cook Road.

The move is meant to adapt to changing "workplace dynamics" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, "with Baxter offering and many employees choosing a hybrid work model consisting of both days working remote and days in the office," the spokesman said in a written statement obtained by Crain's.

The statement said Baxter is "reviewing options related to our current headquarters ­- which was designed and built in the 1970s - and will pursue options for a new modern and more sustainable headquarters."

Crain's notes that Baxter has been based in the Northern suburbs since 1931.

Last fall, Allstate Corp., also citing underused space as their employees are working from home at least some of the time - reached a deal to sell most of its sprawling suburban campus near Northbrook. It has since purchased a downtown Chicago office building that could become a new corporate headquarters.