June 20, 2007

Crain’s Chicago Business

Wrigley looking to rejuvenate retail space

By Eddie Baeb

With a bump from Trump, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. is looking to revitalize the vacant retail space in the Wrigley Building.

Wrigley has hired Chicago-based Stone Real Estate Corp. to market the restaurant in the north tower, formerly occupied by the 410 Club, and a smaller space in the south tower that was a bank for many years. A Wrigley spokesman says the company is looking for upscale retail and a fine-dining restaurant for the two-building complex at 400 and 410 N. Michigan Ave.

"We've always been a high-traffic area," the spokesman says. "Obviously, the area is evolving with the addition of the developer up the river."

Wrigley's move comes as New York real estate mogul Donald Trump is beginning to market about 100,000 square feet of retail space in the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, which is just west at 401 N. Wabash Ave. Shoppers on Michigan Avenue will have to walk through the plaza between the two Wrigley buildings to get to the Trump retail shops, which are to open in spring 2009.

Both the 410 Club, a private lunch and supper club, and the bank closed last year, leaving about 20,000 square feet vacant. The two existing retail tenants, a Pearle Vision Center and a Joel Oppenheimer Inc. art gallery, are to remain.

David Stone, president of retail brokerage Stone Real Estate, says the new vacancies and the evolution of retail moving southward down Michigan Avenue probably played a bigger role in Wrigley's decision than the Trump development.

"They'd like to add some life to the building — some color and excitement," Mr. Stone says. "The building is one of the great tourist attractions in Chicago, and I think they want to take better advantage of that."

He says in a marketing brochure that an estimated 31,127 pedestrians pass the building every weekday, second only to the Water Tower Place block.

Mr. Stone envisions an upscale restaurant in the 15,000-square-foot former 410 Club that would serve both lunch and dinner with some banquet-room space. The restaurant would also feature outdoor seating in the courtyard between the two Wrigley buildings. He says Wrigley wants a list of prospective restaurants within about 60 days.

"They're looking for a restaurant that will attract tourists and residents and be an amenity to the office building," Mr. Stone says.

For the former bank space, Mr. Stone would like to land an apparel retailer or some other upscale store that would take advantage of the windows overlooking the Chicago River.

Clearly, both a restaurant and a new apparel store would stand to benefit from the Trump development.

"The time is right for a redevelopment of the retail at the Wrigley Building," says Brian Whiting, a senior vice-president with Chicago-based J. F. McKinney & Associates, which has advised Wrigley on its headquarters building. "The location is a connection point between North Michigan Avenue shopping and Millennium Park. In addition, the plaza between the two Wrigley towers will be Trump's umbilical cord to North Michigan Avenue."

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