Can the first page be updated with the current plans? The crazy British guy's insane plans are still up there, which I assume are just fantasy. Unless Amazon moves in.
Yea, that area of downtown is vastly underutilized! Can those electric utilities around that area be buried at some point? There ton's of land around there for redevelopment.

This place actually just closed, for some reason, but for decades this was a very popular (and probably profitable) use of an Art Deco building rooftop here in London:

http://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/the-roof-gardens


Something like that, which is “public accessible” (with a reservation or private event), but not necessarily a public park, could work well.

Not sure I get this comment. 601W companies bought this from Davies awhile ago before he died. They've been renovating it for over a year now (?) and have their own plans. Why would they have gone with Davies' plans? Even if Amazon went there, they wouldn't go with Davies' plans. There is a reason why they are buying up properties nearby.

I'm saying Davies plans are still on the first page of this thread. Why not put the currently plans there instead?

Someone probably forgot, but I agree the actual current plans should be on there. Maybe keep the Davies plans at the bottom to remind us what once was planned.

Many of you won't remember the plan before Davies.

Before the recession, there was a plan to obliterate the middle and turn it into condos.

It was an awkward plan and I'm glad it never happened. This whole majestic Art Deco landmark is being fully rehabbed in all of its glory.

Yep I remember those. Knocking down the center by 10 floors. Adding height on the corners.

All said it was a general mess an a colossus waste of a derelict space.

No one could figure out how to remarket it. Casino/hotel/strip club/parking lot/#anything other than what they are doing now which is quite sound business wise.

It was years of angst and many advocated just tearing it down to almost nothing.






No one thought giant floor plans could work in the business world until The Merchandise Mart and The Montgomery Ward building, the lower levels of the Sears towers filled with up with meaningful tenants.


This building has the potential to out do what the Merchandise Mart or the Ward building can do fully realized. The space one the rooftop is a potential gold mine if property addressed.

It certainly has better heavy commuter rail access than those first two other buildings that were also mentioned

other than the Sears Tower which is just about as close to the Metra lines..


IMO the Post Office will be one of the top of the line business buildings absorbing several millions of square feet. The developers are thinking long term when they are buying up as much land around them as quickly and cheaply as possible.


In less than ten years this area is going to be a buco bucks. These developers are thinking long term. Kind of nice to see this day in age.

I definitely remember. IIRC I was quite vocal against it. Glad it never materialized, it would have been a complete sin. 601W purchasing this from Davies was a complete godsend, and it makes me happy knowing that this beauty will be around for future generations to enjoy.

A few notes from a luncheon presentation today by Gensler about The Post Office:

The leasing program is for it all to be Class A office space. All 2.5 million square feet, with some desks being 150 feet from the nearest window. Now, we'll have to see if 601W actually lands Amazon, or Walgreens, or whoever, and makes that happen. I had expected the Van Buren side office building to become a hotel, and to have some of the other parts as colocation space.

Given the floorplates, the minimum office user will probably be around 50,000 sq ft. Some 300 parking stalls will be in the building.

A lot of the old machinery and other furnishings have been saved, to give the place character.

They did helicopter lifts rather than use a derrick to lower the removed asbestos and other stuff because of concerns about how much weight could be put on the building structure. Not sure I got the full or straight story there.

Rooftop is almost entirely a green landscape. Won't be open to public, but maybe a restaurant might have space up there. There is a riverside plaza that will be publicly accessible.

Glad to hear they kept the parking down to only 300 spaces. Hopefully most future workers will be taking transit to get to work here, as opposed to parking in nearby garages. Shouldn't be hard considering this building literally sits on the 2nd busiest line in the CTA.

Damn, that's a lot of brand new class A office space on spec, plus JP Morgan Chase providing full construction debt.

There must be a lot here going on behind the scenes...

I'm almost positive they have at least one major tenant committed to this for them to be putting so much money down. It'll be interesting to see who that mystery tenant is. I'm hoping for something out of town/state, although Allstate or Walgreens would also be welcome news.

Definitely, more than 200-400K SF than UA and Walgreens has likely leased. Those are the only tenants I've heard about. There has to be more.

Wait, this is the first I'm hearing about this, was this information released already, or am I brainfarting and forgot? Also, didn't UA just recently lease in Willis/Sears?

Nothing has been announced by I've heard through the grapevine that deals are in the works with both UA and Walgreens.

Many might not love a private rooftop, but heard about an idea that the corner towers could provide a dedicated single-tenant enclosed space plus a portion of the rooftop linked via private elevator essentially. That is a hell of an amenity. Basically a full rooftop patio / function space with direct private elevator access.

For 3 or the 4 towers.

Could see that being a pretty strong differentiator vs the typical Class A office options

^Isn't the main portion of the rooftop already planned to be private amenity space? I just assumed if they did anything with the towers, it would be the same, especially to compete with many of the newer developments in the West Loop (even some of the highrises now have private rooftops). It would be cool though if they left one of the towers (NE preferably) open to the public or as a restaurant/bar.

Anyway, some interior shots here.

The lobby looks gorgeous!

Wow, it really is beautiful! I toured the building years ago after it had sat vacant for a while. They appear to be doing a great job!

Unless they plan to put a 9-hole golf course up there, only part of the roof needs to be public.

But something like the (now, sadly, former) Babylon Roof Gardens could be cool.