Amita Health plans to consolidate employees to Navistar office campus in Lisle

Days after announcing a merger expansion deal, Amita Health said it plans to consolidate employees from at least six suburban offices to a new headquarters on the Navistar office campus in Lisle.

Amita's current headquarters is in Arlington Heights, and it has offices in Bolingbrook, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates and other locations. Company officials say it's too early to determine whether the consolidation would lead to any of those offices closing.

Julie Busch, Amita Health associate vice president for communications, said Thursday that nothing has been finalized about a system office move, including locations and timetables.

"Amita Health continues to explore potential options to achieve the strategic goal of establishing a headquarters office that allows us to better consolidate operations," Busch said in a written statement.

According to documents submitted to Lisle village officials, Navistar would lease to the health system 225,000 square feet of office space in three buildings at the truck manufacturer's 84-acre campus.

Lisle village officials will vote Sept. 11 on a parking expansion that would allow Amita to lease the space. Amita is expected to sign a lease Aug. 31.

The announcement comes days after Amita Health said it has a tentative agreement to take over all Presence Health facilities. The hospital systems said Tuesday they have signed a "nonbinding letter of intent" for Presence Health to add its medical centers, outpatient facilities and other sites to Amita Health.

The plan to consolidate Amita Health's suburban offices in a single location is independent of the pending Presence Health agreement, Busch said. Amita Health has been considering a new headquarters for the past two years, she added.

"As with many things involved with the transaction, it is far too early in the process to make any determinations regarding locations," Busch said. "In addition, we remain two separate organizations until the transaction has been completed."

Lisle village board members Monday expressed both enthusiasm for the economic boon and concern for the short time frame they were given before Amita was expected to sign a lease.

At that meeting, representatives of the Navistar campus said the tentative OK to add 176 parking spaces there, made by a 3-1 vote of trustees, should be sufficient for Amita's plans before the final approval. Navistar representatives said Amita plans involve 1,100 employees. Employees from Bolingbrook would move to the campus March 1, 2018, and from about six other office locations July 1, 2018.

Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said his village received no advance notice of Amita Health's plans and were unsuccessful in obtaining more information Thursday.

Navistar's workforce on the Lisle campus has dropped from 3,200 employees to 1,800, effectively freeing up half the capacity, company officials said. Since 2015, the company has been actively marketing its vacant office space, with National Express recently moving into one of the buildings, Navistar spokeswoman Lyndi McMillan said.

• Daily Herald staff writer Robert Sanchez contributed to this report.