Amazon Adds 70 KSF at Chicago Tech Hub

September 16, 2019

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The e-commerce giant has decided to double its workforce at its downtown office.

The Franklin. Image courtesy of Tishman Speyer

Amazon will expand its Chicago tech hub with an additional 70,000 square feet of space. The move serves to accommodate the e-commerce behemoth’s 400 new jobs at the Midwest office.

The tech hub is one of 18 offices the company operates nationwide, in addition to its headquarters in Seattle, Wash., and Arlington, Va. Employees at Amazon’s Chicago office work in the Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Advertising and the company’s Transportation and Operations divisions.

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Amazon’s office is located at The Franklin, a 60-story office tower at 227 W. Monroe St. in downtown Chicago. Owned by Tishman Speyer since 2004, the LEED Silver property has 1.5 million square feet of office space. The Class A property was built in 1989 and underwent cosmetic renovations in 2015, according to Yardi Matrix data. The Franklin shares 70,000 square feet of retail space with neighboring property 222 W. Adams St.

Expanding its footprint

The news comes on the heels of several leases inked by Amazon nationwide over the last several months. In July, the company signed a deal to lease an entire 270,000-square-foot office property in Herndon, Va., for its cloud computing business. The same month, Amazon reportedly preleased an entire brand-new office building comprising 347,220 square feet in Bellevue, Wash., from developer Hines.

Last month, Amazon took another step towards building its operations center in Nashville, Tenn., by securing a $176 million construction loan for the development of a 20-story, 566,000-square-foot, Class A office tower in the downtown area. The property, dubbed Nashville Yards, will employ 5,000 workers and is slated to open in 2021.

The company announced its plans for a Nashville site at the same time it announced the winners of its year-long search for an HQ2 site. Though the company eventually scrapped its plans for New York City, plans have continued for its site in Crystal City, Va.