New details have been revealed for the renovation of the common spaces of Merchandise Mart at 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza in River North. Originally announced in January of 2022 and building on the last major round of renovations in 2016 when it became The Mart, construction is now progressing with further details and renderings on the refined plans. The New York-based property owner Vornado Realty is behind the project with the local office of Gensler working on the design.
Image from 2016 renovations via Dezeen
Image from 2016 renovations via Dezeen
The 4-million square-foot Art Deco structure was built in 1930 becoming the largest building in the world, since then it has become a center for design hosting events like NeoCon and home for tech companies. Its renovations completed in 2018 created a new array of open spaces and a food hall to help attract and retain tenants in a highly competitive market, this new round will build upon these and create a new public outdoor space to help foster a dynamic street-scape.
Rendering of renovated south lobby at The Mart by Gensler
Rendering of new amenity space at The Mart by Gensler
Interior work will focus on the main southern-lobby of the building and restoring its Art Deco features, the owner hopes this will help create a collaborative space furnished with pieces from vendors within The Mart. Work will continue onto the second floor with a new central tenant-only amenity space featuring a 23,000 square-foot health club with a juice bar, speakeasy lounge with river views, and updated retail spaces for wellbeing and health tenants.
Rendering of new amenity space at The Mart by Gensler
Rendering of River Park at The Mart by Gensler
Adding on to that will be a 21,000 square-foot conference center with meeting rooms, coworking spaces, lounges, and a cafe among others. While that will be open only to tenants, the main piece of the work will be the new River Park located on the riverfront of the main floor. By slightly reducing the roads in front of the building a new central lawn will be added, flanked by outdoor seating, landscaped areas, and new food and beverage vendors to activate the space.
Rendering of River Park at The Mart by Gensler
Rendering of River Park at The Mart by Gensler
While an updated number was not revealed, the 2022 plans came with a price tag of $60 million and included some work to the entrance on the corner of W Kinzie Street and S Wells Street.
Now as work progresses on the Art Deco-inspired spaces, we can expect the first round of openings this summer as downtown sees a slight increase in return-to-office numbers.
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While the continued greening of the front drive is nice, Gensler should be ashamed of themselves for covering over the beautiful terrazzo on the second floor. Even the original double M Merchandise logo got buried. My only hope is that in the future a true preservation minded developer will buy the mart and uncover the original floor. Meanwhile, Vornado needs to also invest in the exterior as there are hundreds of chips to the exterior masonry. It’s not a good look.