The John Deere dealership at 1615 W. Ill. Route 38 will relocate to the intersection of Annie Glidden Road and Illinois Route 64 by fall 2005 or spring 2006.

NIU bought the dealership and the land it’s on in July. The dealership is adjacent to the Convocation Center.

“It’s urbanization that’s forcing me out of town, not Northern,” said Jim Johnson, owner of the DeKalb and Rochelle dealerships.

“Before [NIU] built the Convo Center, they told us they were interested in buying our property,” he said.

Johnson and NIU started negotiating in 2002. Now DeKalb Implement has a five-year lease with NIU and hopes to be out within two-and-a-half years.

“Northern has a power of domain, but they negotiated faithfully,” Johnson said.

Eddie Williams, executive vice president of Finance and Facilities, said NIU needed the space on campus. NIU will use the existing building for storage.

“It mixes in with the existence of land we have,” Williams said. “It’s part of the NIU site, part of the land plot. It all makes sense to integrate.”

Johnson said the company will benefit from the move.

“I get away from the traffic,” Johnson said. “It’s too dangerous for us to be out here with the big equipment. We need to be out in the country. The problem with the city is the city is a natural barrier,” Johnson said.

The new building will be 27,000 square-feet – 8,000 square-feet larger than the Route 38 location. The new store is under construction and will cost $2 million to build.

Johnson said he will lose some business because of fewer walk-ins, drive-bys and customers from the south, but he will have an increase in business from the north because of the new location. Another loss will be the company’s easy access to the tollway, he said.