CHICAGO—Savills Studley has decided to relocate its Chicago office to the 19th floor of 150 North Riverside Plaza in the West Loop, a building owned by Riverside Investment & Development Co. and one of several new trophy spaces that developers will deliver by 2017.

The state-of-the-art, 1.2 million-square-foot class A tower along the Chicago River has already attracted a bevy of marquee tenants, and in making this move, scheduled for February 2017, Savills Studley will join other top commercial real estate firms that, whether through relocations or renovations, recently began or just finished major upgrades to their office space.

“We've been in our current space for 13 years,” Eric Feinberg, senior vice president, co-head of the firm's Chicago region, tells GlobeSt.com, and leadership felt the time had come to ensure employees had access to the best technology and infrastructure. “We wanted to send a signal to our current employees and to our employees to come.”

But maintaining the firm's ability to recruit and retain workers was not the only rationale for the shift. The world of commercial office has undergone a profound transformation in recent years, as the traditional cubicle space has given way to a wide variety of open office concepts.

“More and more, clients are looking to us for workplace solutions, and we want to use our new office to showcase the latest trends in furniture, infrastructure, and the use of space,” says Feinberg. “So many folks are visually-oriented, and some of the changes that are coming down the pike are coming so fast that it helps if people can see them.”

The firm did a comprehensive search for a new space, but concentrated its efforts within the Wacker Dr. corridor, primarily due to the variety of transportation options available. “We need fairly easy access to the highway system,” he says, as well as the West Loop's train lines, since many of the brokers serve the suburbs and travel there quite frequently.

The iconic architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will design its office space. Other companies that have signed up to occupy the 150 N. Riverside building include: Hyatt Hotels Corp., William Blair & Co., Navigant and Victory Park Capital Advisors LLC.

Feinberg says that they are not going with a completely open plan, but instead have a variety of spaces, including some offices and cubicles. Still, he feels more traditional offices tend to root employees in one place, and Savills Studley wants to see their new space encourage mobility and collaboration. “We're building an office for future generations.”

Drew Nieman and Christy Domin of CBRE represented the landlord in this transaction.

Instant Insights /

Savills Studley Moving to Trophy Building

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