Dive Brief:
- Blackstone Group has announced plans to invest $500 million for a renovation of Chicago's Willis Tower, according to Bloomberg.
- The overhaul will include improvements to the 103rd-floor Skydeck Chicago tourist attraction, 300,000 square feet of new Gensler-designed commercial space (retail, dining and entertainment), a 30,000 square-foot deck and garden and a 460,000-square-foot redesign of existing space that will create a fitness center and event facilities.
- This renovation marks the largest investment ever from Blackstone for an office rehab and is part of a concerted effort to draw more tourists to the former Sears Tower, the second-tallest building in the U.S. The company reportedly wants to beef up its tenant roster as well.
Dive Insight:
This project comes at a time when the downtown Chicago area is seeing significant high-rise and other commercial development. Last month, some state officials began a push to sell the 16-story James R. Thompson Center government building to a developer that wants to replace it with a 1,700-foot-tall tower that would save taxpayers the costs of maintenance and potentially net the state more than $200 million on a sale.
Also in January, developers Howard Hughes Company and Chicago-based Riverside Investment and Development proposed an 800-foot-tall office tower along the Chicago River. If the project comes to fruition, it would be the tallest office-only building constructed in Chicago since 1990. Developers have already tapped Clark Construction to build the complex, which would include a riverwalk and public park.
The most ambitious riverside project planned for the city is Related Cos.' multibillion-dollar, mixed-use development. The project will be built on the 62-acre site of a former railyard, which has been abandoned and now serves as a campsite for the area's homeless. The company, which is also building the Hudson Yards development in Manhattan, said it would take its Midwest division 15 years to build the Chicago project.