The massive, empty Kohl's e-fulfillment center that once employed hundreds of workers along Monroe's Salzman Road has a new owner. Oak Brook, Illinois-based InSite Real Estate paid $55.95 million for the 1.38 million-square-foot building at 3500 Salzman Road, according to public records cited in the deal, marking one of the region's largest real estate transactions over the past year.
The sale was first reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier and later picked up by WKRC, which confirmed InSite's acquisition of the single-tenant distribution facility in Monroe, Ohio. The building had sat vacant since Kohl's permanently shuttered the operation, part of a wave of cuts that hit retail and logistics workers across the company's supply chain.
A Warehouse Built for E-Commerce, Now Up for Grabs
The property at 3500 Salzman Road was built in 2001 and underwent a major expansion in 2008, functioning for more than two decades as Kohl's primary e-commerce hub in Ohio, according to PropertyShark. That long operational history ended in 2025, when Kohl's filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services confirming the facility's permanent closure, according to RetailWire. The filing listed 768 positions, with layoffs affecting more than 700 employees — including 664 material handlers and 33 supervisors — beginning in September 2025.
The Monroe closure wasn't an isolated decision. It was part of a broader reduction in Kohl's national supply chain network, which also included shutting down an e-commerce distribution center in San Bernardino, California, in May 2025 and closing 27 retail stores nationwide amid 12 consecutive quarters of declining sales, the outlet's report noted. The retailer's retreat from Monroe left one of Butler County's largest industrial buildings sitting dark for roughly a year before InSite stepped in.
City Hall Cleared the Way for Heavier Industrial Use
Monroe officials didn't wait for a buyer to emerge before preparing the site for its next chapter. In April 2026, the Monroe City Council passed Ordinance No. 2026-07, rezoning the 47.1-acre parcel from Light Industrial to Heavy Industrial, following a unanimous 4-0 recommendation from the city's Planning Commission the previous month, according to the City of Monroe. The move signaled the city's active interest in seeing the vacant warehouse put back to industrial use rather than sit idle.
That kind of municipal groundwork matters in Monroe, where industrial development accounts for more than 20% of total land use, while all residential uses account for 26%, per the city's own 2021 comprehensive plan. The Salzman Road corridor sits along the Interstate 75 freight route between Cincinnati and Dayton, while statewide commercial-vehicle miles traveled are projected to grow by 44%. That kind of freight growth helps explain why institutional buyers keep paying premium prices for warehouse space along the corridor.
Buyer Has a Track Record With Big Midwest Logistics Deals
InSite Real Estate specializes in industrial build-to-suit and acquisition projects, having completed more than 700 industrial, office, and retail projects across over 40 U.S. states and Europe, according to CBRE. The firm isn't new to large Midwest logistics plays. It previously developed a 1.1 million-square-foot automotive distribution facility in Monroe, Michigan, fully leased to Ford Motor Co., which was later resold to Four Springs TEN31 Xchange in October 2024 for $139.5 million, Commercial Property Executive reported.
Whether InSite plans to land a single large tenant for the Butler County property or carve the building up for multiple logistics users remains an open question, one that will likely shape how quickly the vacant site returns to full use. Either approach would track with the demand already visible elsewhere along the corridor: Ohio approved state tax incentives in September 2026 for construction of a new Walmart distribution facility in neighboring Warren County and a battery manufacturing plant in Fayette County expected to generate 758 combined jobs, Hoodline previously reported.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Kohl's Property Sales
The Monroe transaction also fits into a wider pattern of Kohl's shedding non-core real estate assets around the country. In a separate deal in September 2026, Kohl's sold a former retail store property in Coconut Creek, Florida, to Baptist Health for $53.5 million — a site the retailer had originally purchased back in 2008 for just $14.8 million, Hoodline reported. Taken together, the two sales show a retailer actively converting idle or underused properties into cash as it continues to restructure its national footprint.
