Skender built the new Chicago office interiors for healthcare company Vizient. The 110,000-SF workspace is located on two floors of the historic Old Post Office and is designed with a “City and Parks” theme, incorporating a variety of building material finishes, extensive greenery, millwork elements reminiscent of tree canopies, park benches and café seating. Two commissioned murals and other works of art by local artists pay homage to Chicago culture. Various work and leisure spaces ensure an ideal employee experience, including private and open meeting spaces, agile workstations, Zoom rooms, phone booths and recording studio. The grand Town Hall is a light-filled multipurpose area overlooking the Chicago River.
Architect: Partners by Design
Old Post Office Spec Suites
After sitting vacant for nearly two decades, Skender has aided in the Old Post Office’s repositioning, completing more than 700,000 square feet of interior and spec suite projects in this historic Art Deco structure. Building the next era of office space in this gigantic 1921 structure required Skender to honor the building’s historic integrity while delivering design, technology, amenities and systems that advance the future of the workplace. As one of the earliest and most active contractors in the Old Post Office, Skender became uniquely familiar with the nuances of building in this massive adaptive reuse development.
Greater Chicago Food Depository Expansion
37,000 SF facility expansion with approximately 11.5 acres of site work that will include a commercial kitchen for meal preparation and packaging, a demonstration kitchen for nutrition education, and parking expansion for volunteers, guests and fleet. The expanded facility will have the capacity to prepare and distribute 2.5 million meals per year. The project includes extensive site logistics, phasing, sequencing and excavation.
TrueBlue
In the Old Post Office, Skender constructed an 82,500-square-foot headquarters for TrueBlue, a leading workforce solution provider, to provide the tenant with large, open, collaborative spaces and an impactful café that took advantage of the Old Post Office’s high ceilings. Through experience gained by leading more than 600,000 square feet of interior construction in this high-profile historic redevelopment, Skender advises clients on how to thoughtfully reuse and restore historic Art Deco features of the original buildings while meeting their technological and workflow needs for connectivity and collaboration.
Equity Residential
We successfully renovated Equity Residential’s 75,000-SF Chicago workspace during the COVID-19 pandemic with an enhanced focus on safety, sanitization and remote collaboration. The finished space features a new atrium with a connecting staircase.
Morton Salt
A two-floor interior office build-out at 444 W. Lake Street. Completed project includes conference rooms, huddle rooms, team areas and opening office benching. Design features include custom floor graphics, video wall and custom millwork planters throughout the space.
PayPal/Braintree
An interior build-out for online payment technology firm at the Merchandise Mart. Finished space includes open conference rooms, open plan areas, demonstration area, storage rooms, break rooms and IDF/server rooms.
Sprout Social
This 64,000-SF build-out helped the client expand its operations by adding open-office seating, interior private offices, flex space, conference rooms, a training room, large boardroom, makers space, two additional intermediate distribution frame (IDF) rooms, as well as a second café with full presentation capabilities. The tech-driven project required the restoration of the HVAC system and addition of a unique underfloor electrical infrastructure. Watch the video >>
United Way
28,000-square-foot office relocation and buildout for non-profit organization. Collaborative, modern office space completed on expedited schedule. (January 2013 – April 2013)
Morton Salt
53,000-square-foot 2-floor interior build-out at 444 W. Lake Street. Includes conference rooms, huddle rooms, team areas and opening office benching. Design features include custom floor graphics, video wall and custom millwork planters throughout space.
Mead Johnson Nutrition
64,000-square-foot interior office build-out for Mead Johnson, a leading nutrition company for babies and children. The baby formula company has relocated its corporate headquarters from Glenview to 444 W. Lake St in downtown Chicago. The three-floor project included a 1,500-square-foot slab cut for a self-supporting feature staircase with custom rails and a 2,000-square-foot one-of-a-kind Arktura ceiling baffle system. (October 2016 – March 2017)
Enova
Three-floor interior build-out of open-plan corporate office space. Project includes full-floor call center with 24-hour supplemental heating and cooling.