As an employment destination, very yes. Otherwise, it is just a very, very distant, slightly neurotic Chicagoland neighborhood full of well off people to board Metra trains and come to the Loop each day where they should have been working in the first goddamn place.

One thing about this announcement that I found odd and encouraging is that it was picked up by CNBC (I know, I know) and either Reuters or Bloomberg.

That felt new. I don't usually see stories about corporation A decamping some suburb or another for the central city.

And between this and the Musk O'Hare coverage, it has possibly been the most press-positive week for this town.

Hah, yes absolutely!



Also, please tell me you know something we don't :)

I don't know shit - but wish I did LOL. It's just good to finally see a sizable announcement like this. It'll be interesting to see who else goes there.

Caterpillar is already in the process of moving their corporate HQ to deerfield, though the bulk of their operations will remain down in peoria, from what I understand.

I believe john deere and state farm are the only two F500 HQ's left in illinois that aren't in chicagoland.

I thought I remembered a blurb about Caterpillar a while back, should have followed up on my hunch. But yes, you are correct. It would have been better if they chose the city proper, but Deerfield is certainly better than out in Peoria.

There's a press conference going on. I believe we're supposed to see some mew renderings too?

Yes, there is! I heard the other day, that Walgreens is moving their entire IT staff from the suburbs, to the Old Post Office! Not sure when, though.

you dont say

Yeah, I read it somewhere on the internet...a message board of some sort...but I cant remember which one....hmmmm....;)

If 1800 workers will occupy 200,000 sf of a 2.8 million sf building, then at full occupancy this building could potentially have 25,000 people working in it.

HOLY CRAPOLA!

Jesus, the entire downtown office worker population of a small to mid sized city in just one building. Crazy to think about.

Yep. My floor at work is something like 125,000 sq ft and I think we have around 1000 total people. Now, think about the 25,000 people and think about how many might be living with a significant other. Think of how many have kids. Even if a quarter of those people want to live downtown or close to it, with an average household size of 1.25...that's nearly 8000 people. Now realize how Riverline (or whatever it's called now) is basically across the bridge with something like 3300 total units to be delivered...

Yeah it's pretty mindblowing when you think about it. Now imagine if Amazon chose Chicago and it was something like the 78. Now that's mindblowing LOL.

Guaranteed to keep the real estate boom in the core going. Downtown will barely feel any coming recession.

Considering how high the daytime population around the Post Office will be, it's matter of time until the "Southwest Loop" starts to grow. With the exception of the retail along Canal St, the area is a giant blank slate where developers are allowed to upzone to DX. It would allow for the skyline to venture into new territories

^ Lots of empty lots and low slung warehouse-like buildings in that area that can all be easily redeveloped once land prices start going up. Excellent transportation connections as well, with the Clinton Blue, Union Station, 290 and 90/94 all nearby. Proximity to UIC doesn't hurt, either.

So far, planners have actively discouraged residential from this area (Southwest Loop is so boring, why not O'Learyville?)

I think the planners are working on the notion that downtown needs a lot of service businesses to sustain itself, and everybody benefits if those businesses are close to their downtown customers. Of course, these businesses also occupy a lot of square footage, so even O'Learyville can only hold a handful, UPS being the biggest.

The area also has poor transit, with few connections to the east or west and nothing between the Blue Line at Congress and the #12/18 at Roosevelt. I suppose the 60 could be re-routed through the area instead of taking Harrison.

Allstate is moving bodies out of state, not downtown.

lots of nice renders and old pics




http://www.chicagomag.com/real-estat...ore-and-After/


The Old Main Post

Office: Before and After

For 20 years, the 2.5 million square–foot facility has sat
empty. Soon, it will take shape as a sleek new office building.

"renders"

When will people stop making this mistake? Oof

What an improvement. For 5 years i looked down at that site from my office and thought what horrible greeting that place was as your entered the downtown area. Good stuff Chicago!