John Buck proposes two-tower office project at 655 W. Madison

The John Buck Company has revealed plans for a proposed two-tower office development at 655 W. Madison. Conceived for a full-block site along the Kennedy Expressway, the new proposal would replace an existing surface parking lot bound by W. Madison St to the north, N. Desplaines St to the east, and W. Monroe St to the south. 

Designed by JGMA and HOK, the new plan would consist of a 36-story northern tower that would hold 850,000 square feet of space. Mirrored to the south, the southern tower will be slightly shorter and house just 600,000 square feet of office space. To connect the two buildings, a five-story podium will occupy the entire site footprint and will be topped with a two-acre outdoor urban park.

Reported in a recent article in Crain’s, the project scope is a shift from a taller 1.5 million-square-foot tower originally planned when John Buck Company made a deal with the site’s owner back in 2019. Shifted to allow for more flexibility, John Buck indicated that construction could begin based on the pre-leasing of 150,000-200,000 square feet rather than a typical anchor tenant lease of 500,000 square feet.

Tenants will have access to a secure porte cochere for arrival with over 200 parking spots provided within the project. 55,000 square feet of space will be set aside for tenant amenities as well as an outdoor park spanning an acre on top of the shared podium. The towers will have a state-of-the-art HVAC system that ensures that each floor has its own dedicated airflow, not sharing between floors. 

While the project is within the site’s zoning, the project will need approval from City Council before construction could begin.