USA – Mondelez International has unveiled plans to move its corporate headquarters from Deerfield, Illinois to Chicago in April 2020.

The company which makes Oreo, Ritz, Triscuits and other brands will move its 400 employees from the Deerfield site to a newly-constructed five-story office building at 905 West Fulton, in the Fulton Market area in downtown Chicago.

According to Chicago Tribune, Mondelez has signed a 15-year lease at the West Loop site an area undergoing a transformation from industrial stronghold to restaurant haven to, more recently, hot residential and office market.

The relocation will involve all 330 corporate employees at Mondelez’s Deerfield headquarters plus about 40 contractors and 30 employees from Enjoy Life Foods, which Mondelez acquired in 2015.

Enjoy Life Foods, based in Schiller Park was acquired by Mondelez giving it a wide portfolio of 40 great-tasting products, including cookies, chocolate, snack bars, and savory snacks.

“We sought a location that reflects our new, dynamic and more consumer-centric growth culture, and which will make existing and future colleagues proud to be working at the global headquarters of a US$26-billion global snacking leader,” said Mondelez Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put in a statement.

“Fulton Market is an exciting part of the City of Chicago that has acquired a well-deserved reputation for world-class food.

We’re privileged to be part of this rapidly-developing scene.”

In the new building, Mondelez will occupy 83,000 square feet plus additional 10,000 square feet of retail space for lease compared to 53,000 square feet in Deerfield.

Mondelez joins a growing list of food and beverage companies relocating to Chicago including Beam Suntory which moved from Deerfield to the Merchandise Mart and Kraft Heinz from Northfield to the Aon Center.

Recently, Ferrara Candy announced plans to move from Oakbrook Terrace to Chicago’s Old Post Office taking with them almost 400 employees.

The move comes barely two years after the appointment of Dirk Van de Put as the CEO of Mondelez following the retirement of long-time CEO Irene Rosenfeld in 2017.

In the third quarter, the candy maker registered a 3.7% dip in revenue with a net income of US$1.19 billion, a 21.9% increase to the comparable period last year.