A timeline and anchor tenant have been announced for the upcoming skyscraper at 725 West Randolph Street in Fulton Market. The upcoming skyscraper has seen a small height bump since we last covered its conversion from residential to an office proposal back in 2023. Since then, developer Related Midwest has been seeking tenants to kick off construction.
Site context map of 725 W Randolph St via Google Maps
The project was initially revealed around nine years ago evolving to a mixed-use proposal anchored by a 49-story tower with residential units and a hotel by fitness brand Equinox. After some time, the team pivoted to a single larger office tower designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox in 2023, working to attract relocating office tenants, including courting Chase for a new Chicago HQ.
INITIAL rendering of 725 W Randolph St by Roger Ferris + Partners
The L-shaped structure will span nearly an entire city block, hugging two existing buildings on the corner with North Halsted Street to the west. The land is currently occupied by a parking lot, alley, temporary plaza, and a drive-thru on West Washington Street, all of which will be demolished to make way for the 45-story, roughly 700-foot-tall tower.
Updated rendering of 725 W Randolph St by KPF
Inside will be around 968,000 square feet of space, including a four-story podium with a large parking garage spread across most of the second through fourth floors. The 2023 plans called for a large commercial component within the podium, including a 17,000-square-foot restaurant, a two-story lifestyle gym space, and more. This will be capped by a large rooftop deck.
Updated rendering of 725 W Randolph St by KPF
The rest of the tower will hold office space with private terraces at each setback, along with inset two-story gardens. Over half of said office space will be occupied by Chicago’s second-largest law firm, Sidley Austin. Sidley will be relocating from its current home at 1 South Dearborn once its lease expires in 2030, according to Crain’s.
PREVIOUS rending of 725 W Randolph St by KPF
Sidley will also add a large branded sign along the crown of the tower. With a tenant secured, the team will now work on obtaining a construction loan, though it still needs final approval from the city prior to moving forward. While a cost has not been disclosed, the project is expected to break ground in 2027 and open to tenants in 2030.
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That parking podium alone could’ve held sooo much housing for people, but instead it’s storage for personal vehicles. Oh well. Glad we’re losing another surface lot and drive thru business.
Unfortunately the CTA EL is an drug den and has been taken over by derelict, the mayor wont do squat about it so yeah I’ll just drive walk or bike if I can, the CTA hasn’t been a safe and clean option for the citizenry of this city since Lightfoot. And what sucks is that the poorest Chicagoans that have the crappiest jobs rely on it. So it seems that the system prioritizes derelicts and drug use over hard working people of this city 🙁
Average CTA L rider income is over $100k on the brown line. Almost 30% of *all* CTA L riders make over $100k. It can get a bit sketchy at night, but let’s establish some factual common ground here. L riders aren’t “the poorest Chicagoans”
While the experience on the L could definitely be improved more, it has been improving and will continue to do so. We must do better and we can’t have the dense city with low or no parking in most buildings that we desire without the L being a no-brainer to take. So please don’t give up on it, and consider getting involved in a local advocacy organization to help improve things, like ATA or Better Streets Chicago. We can get involved and make change happen more than just with a singular vote.
When your making $100,000 + a year, you have a choice-do I take the el or purchase a vehicle-what that comment was about regarding those who make much less-they are the ones that rely on public transportation-they have no other option. Its not that hard to understand.
100K isn’t a lot of money in this city anymore
Time of comments id make if I had massive brain damage.
Indeed, it’s an egregious waste of space. So much so their renderings barely even show it, because it’s a dead, uninteresting space taking up half of an entire prime city block. Look at its proportions compared to the existing buildings in the rendering.
Lost in this whole thread about CTA L safety and parking is the notable fact that this building site is, relatively speaking, nowhere near an L station, but it’s directly adjacent to an 8+ lane superhighway and the one expressway interchange in the city that will take you any possible direction from downtown.
I hate parking podiums myself, but of course this development is going to have tons of parking, for anyone living there it’s going to be a core feature of their existence. They’re just going to have to be cool with being in traffic a lot (and not bothered in conscience by being a contributing factor to gridlock)
Huh? The Morgan Street station is about 350 feet from 725 W. Randolph.
I am surprised this isn’t within the Fulton Historic District requirements? It appears oddly tall amongst the original buildings in the area.
Outside of the district from what I’m seeing.
I remain baffled as to why law firms are locating in the West Loop. Currently, Sidley lawyers are a one block walk to both the state and federal courthouses. Here, they’re a cab ride away, and a cab ride that will be unpredictable owing to traffic. Sidley’s old HQ is smack in the middle of tons of transportation. 725 West Randolph is way out from the train stations, and close to only one L line – and not even that close. Strikes me that it’s pure fashion driving them out there. Hoping the Loop comes back to life and Sidley regrets its decision in the long run.
because a majority of those lawyers aren’t in courthouses like you see on Judge Judy. This is a high profile firm that gets to do virtual hearings and settles cases outside of public purview. read a book.
River Otter, except for the eponymous Judge, there aren’t any lawyers on Judge Judy.
Sidley (like other major law firms) handles a broad range of legal matters/dealings that being close to courthouses is largely irrelevant. Thus, transportation to/from said courthouses wouldn’t matter to them. They, like many others, likely want a space better tailored to their current/future needs and this new build would do just that.
Different kinds of lawyers, doing different kinds of lawyering, than you’re picturing.
Also for a firm like Sidley, Chicago is just one of many client locations; the above will be the firm’s new global HQ.
E.g. I have a friend of 40 years who’s risen through the ranks at Jones Day, is now a senior partner in that huge firm’s large bankruptcy/reorganization practice. He’s in any actual courtroom maybe 10 days a year of which perhaps half will be in Chicago.
Looks great
Putting another residential skyscraper right on the interstate would probably single handedly increase cancer rates in Chicago, so I’m not mad that this is an office building. Kids in particular shouldn’t be breathing that.
Kids shouldn’t be anywhere near downtown or the cities in general by that measure..
Kids should be in cities, just not directly adjacent to freeways where thousands of cars are basically idling for huge portions of the day.
Think ahead bro. Eventually Cocos and EV’s will replace fossil fuels, and if the Kennedy is capped around there.. this will be ungodly prime real estate.
EVs still create a lot of particulate matter pollution from brake and tire dust
The Kids? This is a new concern hardly ever expressed.
The comment about the lawyers increasing traffic is even more crucial. The re-design of Randolph with traffic direction change and much needed bus route would make sense.
also this is an office building
Surprised to see addition of 1M sq ft of office space is a viable project, but would love to see this built. Not sure what that means for 1 S Dearborn. Maybe a residential conversion? Or they cannibalize an even older building that then gets a resi conversion?
Sidley is 1 S. Dearborn’s largest tenant, but not its ONLY tenant. That said, a lot would depend on where things stand, if you will, by the time they leave in 2030. A resi conversion would appear very unlikely at this point.
You were not clear ; How does the 2026 plan differ from the 2023 plan ? Ground floor activation ? Is the Equinox Gym still a part of the 2026 Plan ? The large restaurant ?
Equinox has already taken up residence at the new building at 201 N. Sangamon Street, a short walk from this site.
When your making $100,000 + a year, you have a choice-do I take the el or purchase a vehicle-what that comment was about regarding those who make much less-they are the ones that rely on public transportation-they have no other option. Its not that hard to understand.
Echoing what I have seen online and in the comments here, the City needs to seriously improve public transport links in this area as the gravity of the Loop moves westward. i.e. bus lanes on any combination of Randolph, Washington, Madison, and Monroe; reopening the Ogilvie-Clinton L connector, integrated CTA-Metra fares (coming soon hopefully thanks to the new transit bill!); etc etc
This is great news and a badly needed boost to Chicago’s ego. The Fulton market/West Loop is ongoing getting denser and more desirable, and that is a great thing.
However, I hate that it is coming at the cost of the central loop. It needs to grow on its own, without ‘cannibalizing’ space elsewhere.
I do worry about 1 S Dearborn and its prospects after losing a huge tenant. Truth is, if Chicago had a better Mayor than the worthless scumbag at the helm, the city could be actively trying to court business and investment throughout the globe. But instead we have to wait until 2027 at the earliest……
Cities need to adopt and change. Having a pure central business district seems a bit outdated especially in this age. Mixed used neighborhoods are the way to go.
The central loop will need to start building residential units and quickly. The LaSalle revitalization is encouraging but not enough. So many empty lots prime to be developed. And with office vacancy not going down anytime soon this is the only answer. Build residential units and the commercial stores and services will follow giving the central loop to rebrand as a mixed used neighborhood and revitalizing it.
If they don’t it will just further decay like what state street is becoming and anything south of W Jackson’
The Loop continues to evolve and its best days are ahead of it. A recent Crain’s podcast said that based on the current apartment pipeline, 2028 will see move Office-To-Residential conversions than actual new apartment units. Most of these will be in the Loop. It will become more like River North or Midtown Manhattan (which is a good thing). And the Loop has museums, theaters, department stores…it’s full story has yet to be told.
Greg, that’s not correct. It’s an 8 min walk (check Google). And to most areas of the Loop, or getting on a red /blue train, or Metra, there are often more efficient options from 725 Randolph than walking to Morgan and planning your transfers.
So an 8 minute walk qualifies as nowhere near an L station?
Awesome! Good looking design.