google says it's an expansion vs consolidation

It’s the same person.

Instead of renovating for the State of Illinois and doing a partial buyback, they’ll be renovating for Google.

You can just imagine how quickly the State of Illinois bailed on their agreement. They now don’t have to buy back diddly squat. Just move into one of the other nice, regular Loop offices.

At the very least I would imagine they would keep the food court open to the public, if only to allow those businesses to survive. I don't see them fully closing off the lobby to the public. Perhaps some agreement has been worked out with this deal in order to cement public access?

They have to preserve some public access because of the CTA station and pedway, this is baked into the deal. I assume they will upscale the food court like the new food hall in the Old Post Office.

Absolutely fantastic news all around. The state gets out of maintaining a building it obviously can't, gets cash out of it, a new office for its Chicago based workforce on LaSalle which needs rejuvenation AND Google is expanding in the Loop. All arranged by Michael Reschke, a Chicago based developer that will make a good chunk of cash out of the deal.

115 South was the former BMO hq, if I recall correctly. It was mostly vacant on was listed for sale early this year. Not sure if the state is buying the building outright or just leasing offices there.

If it ends up being anything like the Post Office food court, then I am 1000% on board with that. For reference, here's a local Eater article showcasing the Post Office food court, which was done really really nicely.

https://chicago.eater.com/2022/7/21/...s-16-on-center

The State is purchasing the building outright. They’re doing a deed transfer.

Thompson Center = 115 S LaSalle + $30 million

An all-around huge win for the City, State, Google, developer, and taxpayers.

I can't wait to see how this area will be "revitalized" with Google at the Thompson Center. It will be fun to watch. Hopefully good stuff! And hopefully the renovation will be in line with Google's aesthetic. Will the building's name be changed to something like Google Center? And maybe at the Clark/Lake subway station, it might get a face uplift and have Google advertising similar to North/Clybourn Station for Apple.

The OPO food hall is very nice, but any upscaling of the JRTC food court will mean the loss of many affordable lunch options. Not every downtown worker has a Sweetgreen budget, and downtown should have options for the many lower-income families and individuals in Chicago. I work near Revival and even I can't really afford to eat there, except once in awhile as a rare treat.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker confirms Google will be new occupant of iconic, controversial James R. Thompson Center
https://www.chicagotribune.com/polit...qne-story.html

I hope they keep Pinkys, the beef/gyro spot in the food court.

I know I'm random and this is a tangent, but would it be possible to connect 115 S. Lasalle to the pedway at some point? Is there a reason why the Chase building was never connected under Madison? Would this type of connection compromise the foundation enough that it would require massive construction to reengineer/redistribute load? Just curious if anybody has any insight?

True. Google could be playing a long game. Remember that the site has been rezoned back to DX-16 and the existing building has no protections.
They're still putting $100+ million into the reno, which is something (but I guess not much for them).

kinda odd to love or trust any company

I kind of feel like the affordable lunch option will sort itself out?

I simply just can’t get worked up about the Thompson Center fast food venues when the retail areas on nearby blocks are suffering from vacancies.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYsBRk-WIAApWIb.jpg

Also, the old Harris Bank building would probably be a good candidate for some ground floor retail conversion.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYsC_bZXgAE-Sha.jpg

We'll have to wait and see I suppose. But considering how much they have invested in Fulton Market, I don't think their need for more office space is a farce.

Oh well? If Google is so confident about the Loop that a Thompson Center flip looks like a profitable venture, then I’m not complaining.

The Thompson Center is a building, not a company, so renovation and flipping is its future no matter what. At least it’s not the albatross around the neck of the state of Illinois anymore.

I have a good friend who has worked for Mobility for over 20 years. . . when Google sold to Lenovo he and much of the engineering folks moved to Google. . . a not so insignificant part of the development for the Pixel is here in Chicago. . .

. . .

There used to be a 2nd-floor skybridge connecting Chase Tower (One First National) to 70 W Madison (Three First National) and the rest of the pedway system, but this was demolished long ago.

There was also a pedestrian tunnel under Clark St connecting Chase Tower (One First National) to 20 S Clark (Two First National). It looks like that tunnel is still there and it is now being repaired, a big part of Clark St is ripped up right now for the "Chase Tunnel Project".

20 S Clark probably wants that all-weather connection to the Blue Line! It's also possible that this is an investment by Chase, maybe they have given up their search for a new trophy tower and will re-invest in their current HQ tower with expansion in 20 S Clark.

Google says they will move into the building in 2026

Link: https://blog.google/inside-google/co...ompson-center/

Great news!! Kudos to Google and hooray for this city! Jahn was truly ahead of his time. In the age of Covid (and other airborne diseases) buildings like the Thompson with big atriums and/or open air design could become the norm. Particularly once optimum air circulation issues are worked out by the new owners. I can’t help but think this may have played a role in their decision.

Either way, I am happy they will be taking over this iconic building… and will be giving the CBD a much needed shot in the arm. :cheers:

I've always found the building highly overrated mostly because of how horribly kept and dirty the facade was and how poorly the interior aged, but with the right renovations, it would become a very cool place for people to congregate in the Loop

When can we expect to see the sudden influx of hip and/or expensive things in the area? 2025?

Also banking on a residential conversion or 2 nearby.

Great news Chicago!

A good friend of mine grew up near Broadway & Wall St in Lower Manhattan when the area was transforming into a mixed-use neighborhood after 9/11. His building was a part of a wave of old bank offices being converted to residential when office vacancies rose to 15.2% and residential vacancies were 45%. He said the area was surprisingly affordable when they first moved, but over the next decade became increasingly expensive as more high-income residents and workers started moving into the area. The opening of the new WTC complex and the flood of tourists and corporate workers really seemed to be what brought in a flurry of ritzy goods in the area. Now the area has several upscale restaurants, high-end jewelry and fashion stores, luxury hotels such as Nobu, and plenty of other expensive ass stuff.

LaSalle St at the rest of the Loop will likely follow in the same path as Manhattan's Financial District's evolution. The Thompson Center will bring in thousands of Google workers at a time when thousands of other workers will occupy millions of square feet of office space that has opened along Wacker Dr and the river. A sizeable chunk of them will want to live nearby, which will likely trigger a wave of residential conversions around the area. If several of the recent ideas to transform Lasalle St are implemented, I can imagine many more residents and tourists wanting to visit the area. All of these will really act as a feedback loop (no pun intended), and turn the area into a mixed-use district. If folks want a more detailed description of Lower Manhattan's transformation and see what The Loop may look like, below is a report by the NYC Department of City Planning

Report: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning...e_post_911.pdf

This is the most positive thing to happen to the Loop since Millennium Park.

Google presence here will do for the Loop what McDonalds and Google started in Fulton Market.

LOL, Illinois.

Can’t forget to move the Dubuffet Sculpture.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYwufvoUcAE5cd1.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYwuhrdV...pg&name=medium
https://twitter.com/govpritzker/stat...ExYnkUsd3T8PCQ

^ apparently DNC folks were enthused about the news. We also now have some figures of Google's expansion plans. They're planning to grow by around 5000 workers over the next four years, so 7000 in total!


Google expansion will enhance Chicago's tech cred
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/john...cago-tech-cred

There is already an amazing modernist fountain by Russell Secrest in front of the Harris Building and a nice seating area. Can't wait for the state to turn this into a sterile plaza where nobody is allowed to sit down.

http://chicagopublicart.blogspot.com...-fountain.html

I would absolutely LOVE to see Chicago become more of a tech hub. As someone who has thoughts of entrepreneurship in the startup space, I would love to see a larger concentration of VC, accelerators, incubators, etc that bubble up around a growing presence of tech talent.

Wow this is huge for the loop. Hopefully this helps some other developments that have been languishing like the Reid Murdoch Building hotel and 130 N Franklin.

As a resident of the Loop, I am also excited by the prospect that this can be the start of a broader revival of a positive Chicago narrative. My concern, however, is that the powers-that-be will see this as a "HUGE WIN--YAY US!!! We dodged a bullet! Let's milk the sh** out of this as this buys us MORE TIME (certainly until after the next elections) to ignore the fact that streets are trashed, people are afraid to be out after 10pm, police turn a blind eye to ass***** using major thoroughfares as drag strips on which they can blare shi*** music...this is the get out of jail free card we've been waiting for!!!!"
It's too simplistic to lay blame for the city's ills at the feet of LL/Dem machine--it just seems like ANY powers-that-be are looking to the next election cycle and are more than willing to piss away opportunities that require vision/courage/work. Having Google move in and then not feel they can't make the go of it they'd hoped for (not getting people to work there, not acting as a real tech incubator) would be tragic. PLEASE don't f*** it up, Chicago powers-that-be.

2026? I guess renovations will take a while.

Still amazing news for the the loop and Chicago as a whole. :cheers:

Yeah, it is a ways off, but impact on future property value, planning, and perception of the Loop from others in the market will be immediate.

Exactly. According to Crain's source, if Chicago's Google hub will employ 7000 people, that'll be their 2nd largest in the world next to NYC's soon to be 14000 workers. Chicago's hub will have more workers than even Google's HQ in Mountain View! The company clearly has tremendous confidence in Chicago, and that will be a major signal to any tech company on the fence about expanding in the city.

Crains has a new article up on how this happened. Apparently it happened really fast as Reschke reconnected with someone he knew before who became the head or high up with Google real estate. He said they were looking to significantly expand in Chicago and saw his company had purchased Thomspon Center. The state and Pritzker weren't tied to thompson center and saw hoe big Google taking it up was. And luckily Reschke bought 2 more buildings down the street. So very quickly Pritzker agreed to go into the old BMO Harris building to let Google realize their massive expansion plans in Chicago more.

Also mentioned in the article is that Reschke is considering turning the top 10 floors of 111 W Madison into 300 new apartments.

AND he's converting 10 floors of old Harris into apts? This is the exact person Chicago needs to drive the loop forward into a post covid era. Also he's gonna make some serious money on a very risky bet so good for him.

Where's 111 W Madison? There's 105 W on the corner of Clark and 123 W mid-block. Are you talking about 111 W Monroe? Either way, how do you stuff 300 apartments into just 10 floors?

Oops yeah, Monroe.

No idea. That's what the article stated.

>Either way, how do you stuff 300 apartments into just 10 floors?

I couldn't find proper figures / diagrams of it's floorplates, but just dividing total square footage of the building by floor count I got 59,800 square feet per floor. Divide by 30 and you get 1,993 square feet per unit.

Now obviously this doesn't address the incredible creativity in floorplans required to get 30 units on one floor to all have window space for bedrooms. I my napkin calculations ignore things like hallways, revamped water, electric, and HVAC that will all take space. But if they figure those things out and pull off a partial residential conversion here it'd be great for the Loop, as many others in this thread have said.

The lower floors are, by my rough estimate, about 50k sq ft. The whole building is 37 stories and 1.2mil sq ft so I don't know where you got that 60k sq ft per floor figure (1200000/37=32,000) You could feasibly put 30 apts in a 50k floor.

Here you go. This is sort of unusual because all the stairs and elevators are in the original 1911 building (Harris I), so the Harris II floorplates are pretty open. Walter Netsch did this right after Inland Steel.

This floorplan is from before they built Harris III on the LaSalle side, FYI...

https://i.ibb.co/1rvWC9J/image-5.png

The one I think would make the most incredible residential conversion is 135 South LaSalle. Seems like the windowline-to-floorplate ratio would work out pretty nicely—but it's a lot of square footage to do all at once.

I found a better floorplan diagram from a building welcome guide. No units or anything but gives an idea of the layout. Also my calculations were way off lol.

https://imgpile.com/images/Rpg8Dg.png

The Real Deal did a Q&A with the architect.
Some details worth noting:

I see a "Reschke Ave" somewhere in Chicago's future...

^ Good to hear that quote from Jahn Jr.

I think the end result of this will undoubtedly be great architecture, great adaptive reuse and an innovative workspace for Google. But it won't exist in a vacuum - the radical reconstructive surgery will surely eliminate the Postmodern aspects of the design (historic references, use of color, etc) and may also seriously reduce the extensive public/democratic spaces that were a key part of the concept. This is not a building in isolation, but a key part of connective tissue in the Loop. It connects to two CTA stations, it is a key link in the Pedway system, and above-grade it is part of an urban campus of government buildings and public space that is the "agora" of Chicago. The building managers from the state government went out of their way to prioritize retail businesses that reflected the diversity of Chicago, or at least provided affordable goods and services that were accessible to everyone.

It's too early to see post-Google renderings, but this is a bittersweet feeling for sure. I have faith that Jahn, the firm is willing to be generous in preserving or enhancing the original ideas in the building design, since it is such an important part of the firm's lore. But I seriously doubt Google wants to be associated with the many aspects of the design that are "tacky" in the eyes of the public, and will push for a fresh start as much as possible using the structural frame of the old building. Ironically, Google is one of the few private companies that could afford to subsidize the public spaces of this building - but only if they want to.

I cant keep track of Googles holdings in NYC, but didnt they have publicly accessible food halls in their building? Maybe Im mis-remembering, but hopefully they work something in. Granted, Im not expecting BK/KFC/Sbarro in the rework