'Huge' Office Campus Redevelopment Near Sears Headquarters Set to Go Forward

A sizable former AT&T campus in suburban Chicago will be redeveloped into mixed-use, despite "sluggish" local leasing activity and the potential closure of Sears' nearby headquarters.

1 minute read

October 13, 2018, 11:00 AM PDT

By Philip Rojc @PhilipRojc


Holmdel, New Jersey

Somerset Development also owns the former Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in New Jersey. | MBisanz / Wikimedia Commons

Ryan Ori reports on the planned redevelopment of a former corporate campus, now vacant, several miles from the headquarters of Sears. "If Sears folds, it would lead to mass job losses in the area and would leave the retailer's 2.4 million-square-foot headquarters vacant. Already, Hoffman Estates is in an area of the Chicago suburbs where office leasing is sluggish."

The developers are pressing forward with the project, which they characterize as a "metroburb, a metropolis in suburbia." Ori writes, "[Somerset Development] is betting that it can overcome a location far from downtown Chicago and soft leasing demand by providing a unique setting to work, shop, dine and live."

Plans include a variety of uses. "Somerset wants to convert the vacant buildings into 1.2 million square feet of offices, 60,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and 80,000 square feet of conference space. The developer also has approval for construction of 379 rental apartments, 171 for-sale townhomes and a hotel on the land."

Friday, October 12, 2018 in The Chicago Tribune

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