Tall & Urban News

The owner of one of Chicago’s biggest office towers is investing US$6.5 million to demolish and redesign its half-acre (0.2-hectare) plaza in anticipation of greater demand for outdoor space in a post-pandemic downtown.

Work is underway to tear out the underutilized, multilevel plaza along the south side of the 84-story Aon Center. The overhaul is designed to eliminate the fortresslike edge of the plaza along Randolph Street, just north of Millennium Park, and create more usable space as the city moves toward a large-scale return of workers later this year as COVID-19 vaccinations are broadly distributed.

The renovated plaza is expected to open around August 2021, according to the Telos Group, one of the leasing brokers for New York-based property owner 601W Cos.

“The current plaza isn’t very welcoming,” said Telos leasing broker Caroline Colnon. “You can’t see the entry from street level. This is a great time to bring the plaza into present times.”

Other property owners that have ground-level outdoor spaces—and money to invest during a challenging real estate market—could follow suit, experts say.

In the past year, outdoor spaces have become an increasingly hot topic among property owners and architects, said Richard Wilson, city design director at Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architecture. He is not involved in the Aon Center plaza redesign.

“People now realize how important outdoor spaces are in their day-to-day lives,” Wilson said. “If people demand it, building owners are going to incorporate outdoor spaces vertically and horizontally.

“We’re also going to see an ongoing move to spaces that have landscaping and plantings so they can capture water and make areas cooler during hotter temperatures. They help clean the air, and people prefer to hang out in softer, greener areas rather than the paved areas like we saw in the 1970s and ’80s.”

Even before the pandemic, office landlords created rooftop decks as amenities for tenants. That includes 601W’s recent completion of the nation’s largest private roof deck, 3.5 acres (1.4 hectares) atop the Old Post Office redevelopment in the southwest corner of the Loop.

The design of new downtown towers could evolve back toward smaller floor plates and more ground-level open space controlled by private owners, Wilson said.

COVID-19 adaptations, such as retail and dining being extended into the public way, could lead to permanent policy changes, Wilson said.

“We’ve found out that the city doesn’t break if we remove some sidewalk space or use some of the street,” he said.

The Aon Center’s plaza is one of the largest among downtown office properties. The project, designed by architecture and engineering firm HGA, will involve removing large fountains and adding more greenery, fire pits, an outdoor bar and areas to sit in small groups or to work, Colnon said. The entrance from the street will be brought close to the sidewalk level.

“The water features were so loud it was hard to have a conversation, so it’s never been utilized as much as we’d like it to be,” Colnon said.

Besides Aon, other tenants in the building include the headquarters of Kraft Heinz and commercial real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, which oversees leasing in the building along with Telos.

Only about 300 office workers, or 5 percent of its pre-coronavirus average, are working in Aon Center currently, according to Telos Group.

Improved outdoor space is likely to be an advantage in an increasingly competitive office leasing market, as landlords brace for the impacts of waves of vacancies and available subleases, Colnon said. The Aon Center is about 94 percent leased, but there are large leases expiring late this year, she said.

Owner 601W, which bought the Aon Center for US$712 million in 2015, already has invested more than US$25 million improving the skyscraper’s lobby and elevators and adding amenities on the 70th floor including a lounge and fitness and conference centers, Colnon said.

Changes to the plaza are not expected to affect 601W’s plans to add an observatory atop the tower, with an entry structure to be built just east of the new plaza. That US$185 million addition will include a glass exterior elevator tower on the opposite side of the building as well as a thrill ride and other attractions at the top.

Because of COVID-19, 601W last year said construction of the observatory would start about a year behind its initial schedule. It’s now expected to break ground around the middle of this year.

For more on this story, go to Chicago Tribune.