You could be forgiven if you ever gave up on prospects for the old main post office, which closed in 1997. Chicago is known for soaring skyscrapers. The post office, that hulk straddling the Eisenhower Expressway, stunned with its girth. The building was once necessary to process catalog mailings and order shipments for locally based Sears and Montgomery Ward, but that was a long time ago.
Now the dead letter office is coming back to life. What a surprising twist that reflects a creative reuse of building space in the economically vibrant Loop. After an $800 million revamp, the building — owned by New York-based 601W Cos. and known as the Old Post Office — will welcome its first office tenants in October.
In the last several weeks, Uber Technologies and CBOE have signed on to join Walgreens and others in restoring the Old Post Office to a hub of activity. PepsiCo, Cisco Systems, Home Chef and Ferrara Candy will add to the healthy blend of tech and consumer products companies moving in. They seem likely to enjoy some of that innovation-inspiring synergy we’re always hearing about. The refurbished behemoth will be one of Chicago’s largest office buildings, reports the Tribune’s Ryan Ori. It will have a fitness center, roof deck, clublike lounge and food hall with seating along the Chicago River. These are amenities we’ve seen before, but picture the scale: The “roof deck” will be a 3.5-acre park.
This renaissance was accomplished with some city investment. In 2018, the City Council agreed to provide the owner with tax credits for renewing a historic building, saving 601W an estimated $100 million over the life of the redevelopment. Tenants so far have signed leases ranging from 10 to 15 years. That should ensure both the developer and city, which will reap much more in property taxes from a well-occupied building, do well on their investments.
Reviving the post office took longer than anyone would have liked. An eccentric British investor bought the building in 2009, only to do nothing with it. Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel got so fed up he threatened to seize the building. The wait may have been worked to the post office’s advantage. Suburban companies have a hankering to move downtown. Trends in office usage have turned toward large, open floor plans.
Soon, thousands of office workers will begin streaming into the Old Post Office through the restored art deco lobby. This gateway to the city now stands as a first-class symbol of change and growth in Chicago.
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