Dive Brief:
- Developers of an 800-foot-tall, 1.4-million-square-foot office tower along the Chicago riverfront have signed Bank of America as its anchor tenant — an announcement that allows the project to move closer to construction, according to Curbed Chicago.
- BOA reportedly will lease 500,000 square feet at 110 N. Wacker, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and consolidate its downtown Chicago workforce into the bank's offices at the new building when construction is complete in late 2020.
- The 51-story project was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in March in return for a developer pledge to donate $15.6 million to the city's Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and $3.8 million to be divided between a local improvement fund and Chicago's Adopt-a-Landmark program. Riverside Investment and Development and the Howard Hughes Corp. were able to double the building's square footage by providing the community with those financial benefits.
Dive Insight:
The building will be the tallest office tower constructed in Chicago since 1990 and will feature retail, restaurants, conference space, a fitness facility, 26,000-square-foot to 30,000-square foot rentable floor plates and a 45-foot-wide pedestrian walkway along the river that will be the basis for a public plaza around the building. Clark Construction will serve as the general contractor.
Chicago has become a magnet for companies that want to take advantage of O'Hare International Airport's ability to connect them to international clients. Many of these firms — including McDonald's and equipment giant Caterpillar — have also said they are making the the move to Chicago in order to be close to the talented pool of younger workers that have chosen the relatively affordable city as their home.
BOA will also anchor the $151 million, 35-story, mixed-use tower that Skanska Commercial Development USA is building in Houston. The bank will take up approximately 215,000 square feet of the building's total 780,000 square feet and will get naming rights. The Gensler-designed skyscraper will also include about 26,000 square feet of retail space, a teleconnected lobby and a green roof. The tower is the first building in Houston to win LEED v4 Platinum pre-certification.