IL-based design firm, Ware Malcomb, has completed work on the new 605,000 square foot corporate headquarters for Wirtz Beverage Illinois (WBI), the state’s leading beverage-alcohol distributor. The state-of-the-art facility, also known as WBI Center, consolidates four Wirtz Beverage locations into one monumental hub in Cicero, IL for sales, distribution, and training programs.
The former home of the Sportsman’s Park racetrack was transformed by technological features incorporated throughout the facility. In the Fall 2012 issue of Dominique A. Buttitta of NAIOP Corporation’s Development Magazine writes, “Redevelopment of the former Sportsman’s Park racetrack site proved to be as complex as the track’s history. Originally built as Al Capone’s dog track, the site served as a horse racing track until 1999, when it was converted into a combined horse and auto racing facility. One year after its doors closed permanently in 2002, the Town of Cicero purchased the property. The track remained unused for the next six years until it was demolished in 2009. A haphazard demolition left behind various buried debris, capped with natural soils through- out the site.”
Digital signage screens can be found embedded in hallway floors and lobby areas. The 500,000 square foot warehouse contains one of the largest temperature-controlled wine storage components in the country. A leading factor that drove the entire design of the site, the building’s shell, and its utility systems is the high-tech Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) with high bay robotic picking.
