CHICAGO | General Developments

[Notyrview]

Oh ok, that's better.

[aaron38]

^^^ The building looks fine, but I don't understand the location for a major corporate headquarters. It's an 18 minute walk from Ogilvie, a 7 minute walk from the Morgan Green Line stop. For a work force that's probably mostly suburban based, being in Oak Brook today, are they planning on having most of their employees drive to work every day?
Why not take that planned new building at Jefferson/Madison?

I'm confused as to where exactly McDonalds expects their employees to live to have an effective commute.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by aaron38

^^^ The building looks fine, but I don't understand the location for a major corporate headquarters. It's an 18 minute walk from Ogilvie, a 7 minute walk from the Morgan Green Line stop. For a work force that's probably mostly suburban based, being in Oak Brook today, are they planning on having most of their employees drive to work every day?
Why not take that planned new building at Jefferson/Madison?

I'm confused as to where exactly McDonalds expects their employees to live to have an effective commute.

To supplement public transportation, Sterling Bay operates commuter train shuttles from 1K Fulton. Can do the same thing here.
http://www.1kfulton.com/neighborhood/transportation.php

[Ryanrule]

the suburban boomers can move or be replaced.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Transitized made a map of Chicago's commute patterns in different census tracts: http://www.transitized.com/commute/#12/41.8928/-87.6491

It definitely looks like about 40 percent of people west of the Kennedy drive to work, but that number should be expected to go down as more people live and work in West Loop.

I'm pretty sure that visualization is showing how residents who live in those areas get to their jobs, not how people who work in those areas get to their jobs. Similar, but not exactly what we're discussing. I would definitely expect people living in the West Loop to have high transit utilization, but am less convinced that jobs in the area west of the expressway draw primarily transit commuters, although it's changed a lot in just the past five years so that could definitely have also changed.

Originally Posted by streetline

Care to back that up with a source?
...

No.

Originally Posted by streetline

Remember, the new McDonalds headquarters is on Carpenter St, which is about as far to the west of Union & Ogilvie as State St is to the east (a 10-15 min walk). And it's also 2 blocks from the Morgan St Pink & Green Line station, and 5 or 6 blocks from the Blue Line. The west loop is not a transit desert by any stretch; people can, do, and should take transit there.

The walk east is more pleasant (unless you enjoy crossing an expressway by foot), and plenty of people still take a bus. There's also a much greater time cost driving into the Loop versus driving into the west-of-the-highway part of the West Loop.

The West Loop has always had ok transit on paper, but it's also been less intuitively transit-friendly before about 10 years ago, and it's really improved image-wise in the past five or so. So at this point it could actually have a plurality or even majority of people arriving to jobs via transit instead of car, I'll concede that, but I also believe that's a relatively recent phenomenon if it's true.

[aaron38]

^^^ The boomers are going to retire. Those of us 25 years younger who had jobs in the burbs and didn't want to spend 3 hours a day on the Kennedy picked homes walking distance to the amazing Metra system. And it makes no sense for a company that wants to draw talent from the entire region to locate that far into the West Loop. Pick a spot east of the Kennedy.

If I were to take a job in Chicago, sure I'd consider moving. But the reality is that the entire Chicago transit network is to get people in and out of the loop. From any neighborhood where I'd want to live, where friends already live, the Harpo location adds 15-20 minutes to the commute, each way compared to being near Ogilvie.

I can get from Palatine to Ogilvie in 40 minutes on an express. It's 35 minutes to get from Belmont to Harpo.

[SamInTheLoop]

^ Completely agree. It's (if finalized) is frankly a bizarre decision - definitely more odd than their near-deal in the East Loop. Makes positively no sense from a mass transit perspective.

My gut tells me they are getting bad advice. Which makes me wonder what incentives their broker has in the deal.......has CB Richard Ellis (real estate broker for McDonald's) been the broker (representing the tenant specifically - but I'd also be curious if they represented Sterling Bay itself in said deals) for most or all of these very large deals involving the Sterling Bay projects, I wonder? (think Google, Sara Lee/Hillshire, Glassdoor, CH Robinson, etc?) If that's the case, then, if I were the cynical type (which I am), and with Chicago being Chicago, I'd take a closer look at some of these transactions, and maybe set up some interviews.

Another question: Sterling Bay's chiefs: Do they have very intimate local government connections? Just asking. Interesting thing about Sterling Bay's execs is that the two founding partners recently split up - with one resigning and going his own route.........just another question: I wonder if he is the talkative type??

[Via Chicago]

ive said it before, but Fulton is a strange and over-rated location for corporate HQs. i dont think it makes much sense either.

[k1052]

I think the distance to the Metra terminals is being overblown as a barrier. Lots of people walk farther across the loop to offices at LSE or in River North. I also think the choice of location is quite intentional to encourage boomers to retire out now, access more city living talent, and be located in the hottest culinary scene between the coasts to help spur some innovation.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by k1052

I think the distance to the Metra terminals is being overblown as a barrier. Lots of people walk farther across the loop to offices at LSE or in River North. I also think the choice of location is quite intentional to encourage boomers to retire out now, access more city living talent, and be located in the hottest culinary scene between the coasts to help spur some innovation.

boomers arent the only ones living in the suburbs, lots of younger employees are too. there seems to be this notion that everyone is magically going to relocate to the city, but the reality is people have built their lives around the old location. and if they are trying to force boomers to retire, thats pretty shitty ageist behavior in itself and im not sure id want to be associated with a company that operates that way.

access to the culinary scene as some sort of synergy seems overblown to me too...

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

boomers arent the only ones living in the suburbs, lots of younger employees are too. there seems to be this notion that everyone is magically going to relocate to the city, but the reality is people have built their lives around the old location. and if they are trying to force boomers to retire, thats pretty shitty ageist behavior in itself and im not sure id want to be associated with a company that operates that way.

access to the culinary scene as some sort of synergy seems overblown to me too...

The company is under no responsibility to locate itself in Oak Brook in perpetuity.

I know you hate Fulton Market but the huge procession of office leasing and residential/commercial/hospitality projects indicates that not everybody shares your view.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by k1052

The company is under no responsibility to locate itself in Oak Brook in perpetuity.

I know you hate Fulton Market but the huge procession of office leasing and residential/commercial/hospitality projects indicates that not everybody shares your view.

i think residential/hospitality/commercial uses makes lots of sense in this area. global multinational HQs, less so.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by aaron38

If I were to take a job in Chicago, sure I'd consider moving.

you wouldn't have to. if you're already close to the palatine metra station, then get a folding bike, take metra to oglivie, unfold your bike and you'd have a 6 block ride over to the former harpo site (~3 minutes).

now, would most people choose that option? probably not, but that's only because most people lack the necessary imagination to think outside the box. however, for those of us with our minds fully turned on, the metra/folding bike combo is a no-brainer to get from the burbs to the former harpo site.

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

you wouldn't have to. if you're already close to the palatine metra station, then get a folding bike, take metra to oglivie, unfold your bike and you'd have a 6 block ride over to the former harpo site (~3 minutes).

now, would most people choose that option? probably not, but that's only because most people lack the necessary imagination to think outside the box. however, for those of us with our minds fully turned on, the metra/folding bike combo is a no-brainer to get from the burbs to the former harpo site.

The whole bike thing is great, unless it is in the middle of January and the temp is 5 and it is snowing.

[Chi-Sky21]

Taking a shuttle is no big deal, and those shuttles (if you cant get there any other way) would run pretty fast, not like the ones that run across the loop. I would much rather work in the West Loop and be close to all it has to offer than be stuck in the hustle in the loop itself. Plus, I imagine it is cheaper and my guess is the building will only be for McDs which i bet is something they wanted.

[Kngkyle]

This just highlights the need for a larger loop that would connect River North/Streeterville to the West Loop/Fulton Market to the South Loop/River South/McCormick Place with Grant Park/LakeShore East connecting the circle. Anyone have $10 billion laying around?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by F1 Tommy

The whole bike thing is great, unless it is in the middle of January and the temp is 5 and it is snowing.

that's not an issue at all. on a particularly nasty winter day, you'd leave the bike at home and just take the shuttle from oglivie over to harpo/McD's.

[J_M_Tungsten]

^anf if you need to report to work at 700, what time train would one need to be on? 445am? I did the whole metro/shuttle thing for over a year from st Charles. Worst year ever. Exhausted everyday because I had to wake up so early. Thankfully, that dreadful year pushed me into my decision to move to the city, so guess I can't complain now.

[streetline]

The shuttle, and even the bike, seem superfluous to me for 90% of commuters on 90% of days. It's only a 10 to 15 minute walk to the West Loop Metra stations.

I've got to think that the people whose minds are boggled by this choice remember the West Loop as it was a decade or more ago, rather than as it is now. For most transit choices, excepting the red line, this location is more convenient to transit than the Aon building.

[F1 Tommy]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that's not an issue at all. on a particularly nasty winter day, you'd leave the bike at home and just take the shuttle from oglivie over to harpo/McD's.

Sounds like a good plan, although in Chicago that could be the whole month of January!!! People should ride their bikes more. Some of the bike lanes in the city need more protection from crazy drivers but otherwise I enjoy it.