Chicago's historic financial corridor will soon lose some big banking tenants, but it's getting its biggest co-working office to date. New York-based co-working provider Industrious leased 52,021 square feet on two floors at 231 S. LaSalle St., where it will open its largest Chicago location later this year, the company announced. Industrious' eighth Chicago-area location will be its first in the Central Loop and symbolize an ongoing transition for a stretch of city blocks long known as a hotbed of trading firms and financial institutions. A handful of banking giants are poised to leave the LaSalle Street "canyon" for new skyscrapers and fresh offices over the next few years, forcing some landlords on the historic thoroughfare to refresh their images to cater to new types of tenants. The 23-story building that will soon house the new Industrious location is one of the properties staring down a big potential vacancy. Its largest tenant, Chicago-based Northern Trust, is expected to leave behind almost 250,000 square feet when its lease expires in 2023, as the company consolidates several of its Chicago offices into 333 S. Wabash Ave. Partnering with a prominent co-working provider in Industrious is a sign that the LaSalle Street building's owner, a venture of Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners, is embracing a new persona for the corridor. After paying $162 million for the property in 2017, Beacon built out office space on the 21st and 22nd floors, which it has now leased to Industrious. Part of those floors, which are recessed back from the main building structure, had previously been used as executive banking dining halls, according to a building spokeswoman. The 23rd floor includes a fitness center, lounge and rooftop deck. An Industrious spokeswoman said in a statement that the company has struck a "partnership agreement" with Beacon at the 95-year-old building but did not specify terms of the deal. Some landlords that are bullish about the future of co-working have expanded their relationships with co-working providers to design and manage amenities in their buildings. "We are excited to welcome Industrious to the building and this unique space,” Beacon Capital Partners Senior Vice President Greg O'Neal said in a statement. Co-working providers have been snapping up space across the city over the past few years as entrepreneurs and large corporations alike have demonstrated an appetite for low-risk, flexible workspace on month-to-month deals offered by Industrious and other major competitors like WeWork, Spaces and Convene. Downtown Chicago is projected to have 2.9 million square feet of co-working space by the end of this year and 3.9 million square feet by the end of 2020, according to data from brokerage Newmark Knight Frank. Those figures would be up from 2.2 million square feet at the end of 2018. With its new LaSalle Street location and a 46,500-square-foot space overlooking Ogilvie Transportation Center set to open this summer, Industrious will have about 250,000 square feet in the Chicago area, including one location in Evanston, according to a company spokeswoman. WeWork has more co-working space in Chicago than any other provider, at about 650,000 square feet in use or in the works. Farther north on LaSalle, Spaces leased more than 78,000 square feet at the former Sports Authority store at 650 N. LaSalle Drive in River North. That location is expected to open this spring.
Co-workspace operators look set to take over leases in Chicago as a handful of banking giants prepare to leave the city’s financial corridor over the next few years. Industrious is poised to open its largest centre in the city, a 52,021 sq ft office located at 231 South LaSalle Street, its first in the Central Loop and its eighth in the Chicago area. Industrious signed a partnership agreement with the owner of the property.