Did Amazon tour this location? If so you wonder if they aren't holding off on signing things until they know what Amazon has to say about their proposal...

This thing is just Art Deco porn...

That lobby is just jaw dropping gorgeous. God am I glad they didn't end up butchering this building like past proposals called for. I couldn't be happier with the way things are going for the OPO!

well, it's now official, walgreens is moving in! 200K SF.

unclear if it will serve as new HQ or if HQ stays up in deerfield.



source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...614-story.html

It's funny, I just came across that and came over here to see the response....crickets....figured I would go back and post the link.....POOF....There is Steely's post

SSDD

0.2 Million sq feet out of 2.8 Million leaves enough room for many other like minded tenants. Amazon once thought of getting into the prescription drug market. If they wanted to be close to a potential partner there is still 2.4-2.6 Million sq feet left. That said H2 would need more space so im still thinking the 78 alone or the 78 in combo with TOPO is their best location for commuter transportation and it would actually be most beneficial to the city IMO.

We can expect a lot of Walgreens HQ employees take the Metra and walk to it. The executives and those that make real money will just buy another million dollar plus condo downtown. Those with families and kids would unlikely unroot them and move the children to live in the city.

We could see likely more than a few Pied-à-terre's rather close to the Old Post office.



Anyway this is a positive for the city but I hope Walgreens can at least keep some back door operations in Deerfield for at least some to the old lifers there that would not be needed than rather just buy them out, because when you do you also lose people to out of state. You get your severance and than move to Florida for half of the year, pay no state taxes and it boosts the Florida census probably more than a million [ from the entire county that do so ] more people that live there and costs Illinois probably around 150-200K people that do the same thing.

Can't improve on perfection so i retract!

:runaway:

It would be interesting to see Amazon at The 78 plus Old Post Office. There's no good way to get between the two, but Amazon could build boat launches fairly cheaply, and maybe switch to shuttle buses down Wells if the ice gets too bad in winter.

^ I thought the old post office and union station proposal are there ones that would go together when amazon was going to expand behind the initial 500k of space?..Not to mention there was land purchased around the Old post office for some towers to be built... I think amazon has alot of options if they do select Chicago and the old post office location and they dont necessarily have to be at 78 in conjunction with it.

Chicago is going to end up with all of Walgreens, eventually. Looks like it will just come/develop in chunks instead of all at once.

^maybe, but Crain's is reporting that Walgreens will have about 1800 people at OPO and 3200 still in Deefield. Also sounds like they will be consolidating their downtown offices in the OPO.

^ Imagine one day having all 5,000 employees in the Post Office :slob:. Would all of Chicagoland's major HQs have been relocated to downtown at that point?

a
Allstate?

That same Crains article states that out of those 1800 jobs, Walgreens is bringing 1300 downtown. I assume that means that it is consolidating what I assume to be 500 jobs that are already in the city, and bringing 1300 from Deerfield or other suburban offices to the OPO. If so, that would be fantastic. Its a huge number of jobs and a massive win!

Deerfield dying is a very good thing.

Naw, it won't die. Too much old money there. Of all the 3200 jobs up there, the vast majority drive in from other burbs. The people that live there are going to be execs and senior management. If and when Walgreens moves to the city, they will continue to maintain their residences there (especially if they have kids) and will probably also get a condo or town home in the city as well.

But yes, getting a big F500 corp like Walgreens out of Deerfield and into the Loop is definitely a win.

Who's next?, Allstate

How about we cyanide every human living in the collar counties, and at the same time lets magically save the natural fauna and flora of course.

Would that also be a very good thing in your book? BTW what book are you reading?

Frankly, I think it would be great to draw in a corp from outside the metro area. Caterpillar, State Farm and John Deere for example. They are all huge Illinois corporations that could easily be wooed to the city, or at the very least convinced to open up a large center of operations in order to tap the city's young and highly educated talent.

Yes, I agree. Out of state would be awesome - and at that, out of the region. Get someone from one of the coasts like Salesforce ( ;) ) to open up a big office there.