Aug. 19, 2024 NORMAL — An amended site plan for a 1.3 million-square-foot expansion at Rivian Automotive's Normal plant has received the green light from town officials, and construction is expected to begin soon.
The project approved by the Normal Town Council on Monday will prepare the electric vehicle maker's production facility for the new R2 sport utility vehicle model and is expected to bring in an undetermined number of new workers. Site work for the expansion may begin this month or next, and construction is expected to take 14 to 18 months. The vote was unanimous except for Mayor Chris Koos, who was absent because of a vacation, said the town's communication director, Cathy Oloffson, after the meeting.
It followed the council's approval of a long-awaited Normal Fire Station 2 to be built at the northeast corner of Shepard and Hershey roads adjacent to the Blackstone Trails subdivision. The Normal Town Council meets Monday at Uptown Station. Rivian is planning to build a 1.
14 million-square-foot building east of the southeast corner of the existing plant and add 208,000 square feet to the southeast portion of the plant at 100 Rivian Motorway. The plan includes two new employee parking lots with over 2,500 spaces and new signage to help direct motorists. An image shows what a proposed expansion at the Rivian Automotive manufacturing facility in Normal would look like.
One 1,127-space employee parking lot would be located to the west of the existing plant, and another.