CHICAGO—The City of Chicago has revealed it will vacate its 124,875-sq.-ft. lease at 33 N. LaSalle at the termination date of Dec. 31, as part of a consolidation and reorganization of city department office space.
The city’s departments of Law, Finance, Housing and Economic Development, and CCTV currently work out of 33 N. LaSalle, a 38-story, roughly 400,000-sq.-ft. tower. Golub & Co. claims the building currently has about 70,000 sq. ft. vacant, according to the tower’s Web site.
The consolidation is expected to cost the city $12 million, though Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement that the city should next year start saving $4 million in annual lease costs. “By taking a look at the locations of City departments more holistically, we were able to strategically improve the way our departments function and interact on a day-to-day basis,” said Emanuel. “This will lead to providing better services, increased efficiency and, most importantly, millions in annual taxpayer savings.”
The city leases in other downtown buildings, including 245,955 sq. ft. at 30 N. LaSalle to provide space for 2FM, CDOT, Law, Aviation, Housing and Economic Development, and the Police Review Board, as well as 175,057 sq. ft. in the DePaul Center at 333 S. State Street to provide space for Water Management, Finance, Public Health, and Innovation & Technology.
In planning this consolidation, city officials said they focused on maximizing city-owned space over leased space, as well as adding personnel to leases that still have significant time left on the leases. “Vacating 33 N. LaSalle provided a prime opportunity for the City to look strategically at its use of leased and owned space in the Loop,” said David Reynolds, commissioner of the city’s Department of Fleet and Facility Management. “When the work is complete not only will we save the money currently being spent to lease 33 N. LaSalle, we’ll also have made some long needed improvements to City Hall and used the space more effectively.