The brewer Molson Coors Beverage will move its Chicago office next year to BMO Tower at 320 S. Canal St. in a deal that illustrates how employers are responding to hybrid work.
The world’s fifth largest brewer will lease about 84,000 square feet at the 52-story building. The company will relocate and downsize from 167,000 square feet at 250 S. Wacker Drive.
Many companies have cut their space requirements at lease renewal time because few employees have used the office five days a week since the pandemic’s outbreak. Overall office vacancy rates downtown have risen sharply in recent years to around 20%.
However, some users have chosen to upgrade their space even as they downsize. BMO Tower, which opened last year, has benefited from that trend.
A Molson Coors spokesman said the company has been on a hybrid schedule—three days a week in the office and two days at home—since October 2021. “The approach has worked quite well, and we are excited to move into a modern space that allows for strong collaboration, and which offers top-flight amenities,” he said.
The new home of about 400 employees is scheduled to be ready in summer 2024. The Chicago office is Molson Coors’ Americas headquarters.
BMO Tower has a private outdoor patio and, in a carryover from the Wacker Drive space, Molson Coors will have a pub for sampling company products. It’s open to employees and guests.
“We are very pleased with the activity at 320 as we continue to see significant demand for the property,” said Rafael Carreira, executive vice president at Riverside Investment and Development, a partner in the building with Convexity Properties. “Building location and daily conveniences continue to guide decision making as companies reassess space needs post pandemic.”
BMO Financial Group is the anchor tenant. Others that have moved to the building include Antares Capital, the National Futures Association and the law firms Chapman & Cutler, Skadden Arps and Faegre Drinker.
