Tall & Urban News

BMO Harris Bank to Occupy New Chicago Union Station Tower

© Goettsch Partners
© Goettsch Partners
12 December 2018 | Chicago, United States

BMO Harris Bank will consolidate its Chicago offices in 2022 at a new 50-story tower next to Union Station, the bank announced on 10 December 2018.  

In a deal that will bring 3,600 Chicago BMO employees into a single location, the Toronto-based bank has signed a lease for 14 floors at the skyscraper, which will be dubbed BMO Tower, the bank said in a statement. 

The move into 500,000 square feet (46,451 square meters) will consolidate the company's Loop offices at 200 W. Adams St., 111 W. Monroe St. and 115 S. LaSalle St. according to a BMO spokesman, which together account for more than 800,000 square feet (74,322 square meters) today. 

The bank will move its downtown employees to the low- and mid-rise portions of the new skyscraper in phases as their current leases expire, U.S. CEO David Casper said in an interview. That process will begin in 2022 and finish in 2024, he said. 

"We pride ourselves on acting as one bank," Casper said, citing BMO's mix of business units such as commercial banking, capital markets and personal banking in Chicago, which serves as the company's U.S. headquarters. Moving employees from those units under one roof "makes everything easier," he said. "Clients can go to one place to see all our businesses." 

BMO Tower will be developed by Chicago-based Riverside Investment & Development and its development partner Convexity Properties, which recently won approval from the Chicago City Council for a 1.5 million-square-foot (139,354-square-meter) tower at Union Station. 

BMO's plan to centralize its Chicago offices follows the lead of other companies with disparate downtown operations consolidating into new, single locations. Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America will pull a similar move in 2020 when it moves into a 500,000-square-foot (46,451-square-meter) office in the 1.4 million-square-foot (130,064-square-meter) office building under construction at 110 N. Wacker Drive. That will be a significant reduction in space from the 830,000 square feet (77,109 square meters) it leases at 135 S. LaSalle St. 

Insurance company CNA Financial earlier this year moved into 275,000 square feet (25,548 square meters) at 151 N. Franklin St., a fraction of the roughly 750,000 square feet (69,677) it vacated at its main office at 333 S. Wabash Ave

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