Large corporate campuses that are tucked away in the suburbs used to represent many aspects of American life, including car dependence, a desire to escape crowds and urban blight, and the propensity of business leaders to construct monuments to their own brand of efficiency while also putting the competition on the defensive.
The world hasn’t been kind to those developments over the past dozen or so years. A company’s ambition was revealed to be a liability when suburban real estate investments were severely impacted by the debt crunch.
Then some businesses decided that city lights were better for attracting younger talent, perhaps due to an aging workforce they wanted to shed. Who, in any case, required all those landscaping expenses?
More recently, the pandemic has complicated business goals and plans, raising concerns about the future of work in a variety of contexts.
A man who owns one along with partners claims that “those big corporate campuses are dinosaurs.” Ralph Zucker, the president of Somerset Development in New Jersey, is not grumbling. He is outlining an opening.
The former AT&T research facility in Hoffman Estates was purchased by Somerset in 2019. What is now known as Bell Works Chicagoland spans 150 acres and extends into the distance, but AT&T left it in 2016.
Smaller businesses are beginning to move in, and entrepreneurs are occupying desks in coworking spaces, so there is some activity. A sizable Fairgrounds café with grab-and-go food, a variety of coffee, tea, and — for the after-work crowd — alcohol will be available there in a few months.
It will mark the beginning of what Somerset hopes will develop into a brand-new town center, or “metroburb.”
The enormous main structure has 1.2 million rentable square feet. With 200,000 square feet already leased to tenants like Heritage-Crystal Clean, Platinum Home Mortgage, and Headline Solar, Zucker is reopening it in stages.
The structure has a concourse that looks like it could serve as a promenade. The success of Zucker’s company’s comparable campus, which is located on an abandoned Bell Labs site in New Jersey, is what he is banking on for Hoffman Estates.
He declared, “We directly bet that there will be more demand than supply.
The village has also given permission for the construction of up to 550 townhomes and apartments on the property. In a few weeks, Zucker hopes to begin work on those projects. The homes, he claimed, will breathe life into the area.
“People don’t like to feel alone. They want to see other people and other businesses, as well as take part in the activities going on around them, he claimed.
In Hoffman Estates, at 2000 Center Drive, is Bell Works Chicagoland.
Or think about the opulent environment McDonald’s enjoyed in Oak Brook before relocating to Chicago in 2018. It is 80 acres in size and has always attracted people who value nature because it has ponds and walking trails.
According to Jeff Shay, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle, the property’s leasing agent, “If you are a tenant looking for neon lights and a lot of visibility, that’s not what we offer.”
Ace Hardware announced in May that it would be relocating its offices from the area to the property, which is now marketed as Oak Brook Reserve at 31st Street and Jorie Boulevard. By the middle of the following year, according to Shay, Ace will occupy the entire 300,000 square foot area of the campus’s largest building. The smaller structure is Hamburger University, the former research facility for McDonald’s. There will be about 30,000 square feet taken by the consulting company BDO Digital, leaving about the same amount available for leasing.
Shay claimed that the John Paul DeJoria-owned property has the zoning permission necessary to add more commercial space, perhaps offices or restaurants to accommodate the burgeoning crowds.
DeJoria requested housing on a portion of the site, but the village refused. Shay is certain that the building will attract an increasing number of office tenants.
Millennials are beginning to move out to the suburbs, he said, contrary to the past when businesses needed to have a downtown office to recruit. To prevent workers from gathering in one location, he said, employers are experimenting with smaller satellite offices.
With overall vacancy rates at about 25%, the suburban office market is still in poor shape. According to David Florent, principal at the real estate company Colliers, the properties that generate the most leasing interest add amenities to stand out.
He claimed that as the economy recovers from the pandemic, successful landlords will assist businesses with two crucial issues: how to “rightsize” office space and bring a workforce that is predominately distributed back together. Landlords are experimenting with lures like soft music and scents in the lobby, in addition to the fitness centers and tenant lounges.
Florent remarked, “Hospitality is what it comes down to.” It’s comparable to working in a hotel,
The area in Oak Brook where McDonald’s once operated is now known as Oak Brook Reserve.
