Suburban Offices Getting New Looks

The atrium will provide tenants with a vibe more often seen in Chicago office towers.

CHICAGO—The future of the suburban office market depends on bringing the many complexes built in the 1970s and 1980s into the modern era. Some, like the McDonald’s campus in Oak Brook, will become mixed-use, but other owners believe their properties can still fulfill the needs and desires of today’s workforce.

Franklin Partners just presented such a vision for The Shuman, the five-story office building at 263 Shuman Blvd. in Naperville, IL. It was initially developed in 1987 for AT&T and most recently was the headquarters for OfficeMax. The company purchased the 350,000-square-foot building in a joint venture with Bixby Bridge Capital in April and sees it becoming a suburban destination for multiple office tenants, offering extensive amenities.