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An amenity rich massive office center has been rebuilt to accommodate the next generation of fin tech, engineering, electronic trading and back-office firms requiring open spaces, large floor plates and expansive windows in what’s described as a highly accessible area of the Chicago downtown business district.

Called Canal Station, 801 S. Canal Street is also a few blocks south of Chicago’s Union Station, with easy access to Metra suburban trains as well as the CTA Blue Line which connects to O’Hare airport and upcoming residential developments. There is also a massive car park, 375 spaces, at the five-floor building.

Developer 601W of New York City, which owns the most office space in Chicago (nine million square feet), acquired the 700,000 square foot former financial services 1990-era Northern Trust back-office data center for $68 million just before the pandemic and has spent $265 million refurbishing it.

It recently landed its first tenant in the construction consulting firm, R.M. Chin & Associates, which is taking up just over 15,000 square feet.

The move is “very significant,” says Chicago CBRE executive vice-president Bill Sheehy, who represented Chin. “It validates the building and it’s really in my experience when you land the first tenant it usually drives a lot of other activities to the building.”

601W and its lessor Telos Group want to piggyback on the redevelopment of the 2.5-million-square-foot Old Post Office complex a couple of blocks north, a similar redevelopment now 99 per cent leased with tenants like Uber and the Federal Home Loan Bank.

The area is being marketed as the Post Office District in the southwest Loop and traditionally was slightly off the beaten track from most Loop traffic. In fact, some former Northern Trust employees referred to it as “Canalcatraz.”

“It’s difficult because the geography is not a typical location that a lot of users would be attracted to,” Sheehy says. “So, it’s a tougher building (and) they’re doing everything they can to make it attractive but it’s a phenomenal facility.

“The amenities package is incredible – the larger floor plates, higher ceilings, the access to parking – those were all big drivers. It’s not a building for every tenant but it is for the right tenant.”

Besides proximity to Union Station there is a shuttle running up and down Canal Street and immediately south is a bustling shopping district with stores like Whole Foods Market, Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack and restaurants. Employees also have access to the 12 restaurants at the Old Post Office’s food hall.

“If you were to go to the east into the central Loop, most people would consider that a very short quick walk,” Telos’s senior vice-president Matt Whipple says. “And just to the east of us are some of the largest development sites for multifamily” with a 10 to 15-minute walk to the office.

“So, it’s just about educating everybody about the area.”

601W undertook “a whole transformation of the asset,” Whipple said.

Massive chunks of concrete were taken out expanding the original window cutouts and doubling their height to seven feet with 30-foot horizontal spans.

601W placed a special emphasis on amenities, including a fitness centre, parking, an employee lounge and a massive four-storey entrance lobby, fitted with an innovative media wall, and an 8,000-square-foot outdoor terrace.

The exterior was repainted and there is an entirely new streetscape.

“So, it’s a big hyper efficient (dual core) floorplate. It’s got incredible infrastructure” because of its use as a former data center, Whipple said.