CHICAGO—Fifield Cos. has just purchased 600 W. Jackson Blvd., an eight-story, 106,000 square-foot office building in Chicago's West Loop and plans to transform the structure into creative office spaces and relocate its own headquarters there from 222 S. Riverside Plaza. The move will put Fifield into the middle of a neighborhood it has done so much to transform in recent years.
“We currently are in a traditional office that has an internal conference room without any windows,” Steven Fifield, chairman and chief executive officer of Fifield Cos., tells GlobeSt.com. Furthermore, employees don't have the wide variety of spaces increasingly valued by today's office workers such as “hang-out spaces” where they can meet colleagues on an informal basis. That will change when the company moves in on August 1. “Our office will be a model for the building.”
Fifield plans to occupy 6,500 square feet on the building's sixth floor and rename the building the Burnham 600. Other main tenants in the building include Family Health Network, OKW Architects, tech shared office operator Assemble, Reed Construction, Bravo Foods and Starwood Hotels.
But company officials consider the headquarters move just an added bonus. The real motivation behind the purchase was the chance to develop an office property in the heart of the hot West Loop market.
As reported in GlobeSt.com, in the past few years the company has spent much of its time building mammoth luxury apartment buildings in the area such as K2, a 34-story, 496-unit apartment tower at 365 N. Halsted St. The company also built the two-tower Alta at K Station and the 451-unit Left Bank at K Station. The thousands of units have helped transform the West Loop into a true neighborhood with schools, retail and parks.
Still, “we just can't do apartment buildings,” Fifield adds. Before it launched K Station developments, Fifield built some of the pioneering office buildings in the neighborhood, including the 372,000 square-foot 550 W. Washington, which it finished in 2000. Its last office project, 550 West Adams, delivered in 2006 and was recently sold for $182 million to a German investor.
In the past few years, Fifield decided to embark on a new office project that would take advantage of the growing popularity of creative office spaces. About six months ago it began looking at possible acquisitions and eventually settled on an off-market deal for 600 W. Jackson.
“It's got the bones of a good creative office building, as well as a distinguished history,” Fifield says. Built in 1912, 600 W. Jackson was designed by famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham for the Otis Elevator Co.
“The proximity to public transportation and the building's classic architectural features make it a desirable property, particularly its 12-15 foot ceilings, which are favored by creative and tech tenants,” he adds. “And the views from the roof are fantastic.”
Aside from a new roof-top deck, Fifield does not plan many changes to the building's exterior. But the company will upgrade the elevators, add a bike room and transform the lobby into a hotel-like space with WiFi and other features, such as a security guard, commonly seen in class A buildings. “That is something that most loft-style office buildings don't have.”
“This is one of Chicago's first skyscrapers and we hope to salvage a lot of its original charm, while bringing it up to standards for today's tenants, specifically those in the tech sector that may be looking for more innovative layouts and amenities,” he says.
“With its strong tenant roster and our plans to transform much of the building into creative office space, we have no doubt this will be a premier office building for years to come.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
