CHICAGO | General Developments

[the urban politician]

The point I’m making is that I’m rooting for the local, Chicago based work force.

But they need to understand what forces they are up against. Saying “I can work from home now due to technology and hey—I’m an American and nobody is going to screw ME over” is an attitude that did not work out well for people in the past.

In a higher tech, increasingly globalized world where people everywhere can speak very good English and acquire many of the work skills that we have here, Americans MUST show their value. And that starts with showing the value of being HERE. I live here. I am of value to you. You see me every day. We interact in person, we have coffee and lunch together.

We need to bring at least some of that element back in a BIG way, or these relationships between workers will wither away. And we all know what’s coming if such relationships are no longer relevant.

So I am fervently against this WFH movement for this reason. It was necessary during a pandemic, but after that point it is VERY self serving, frankly, and in the end employers care about their bottom lines, not your personal convenience.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

So I am fervently against this WFH movement for this reason. It was necessary during a pandemic, but after that point it is VERY self serving, frankly, and in the end employers care about their bottom lines, not your personal convenience.

You don't seem to be getting it. Employees have said they value WFH /hybrid models, and management is responding with saying "it's obvious well probably have some kind of hybrid model moving forward." I'm sitting on calls where the ceo of a multinational corp is saying this is what's happening. Maybe not all companies are this way, but I work for a big one and they've been very open and transparent about soliciting employee feedbacks and reading the tea leaves. Virtually none of my team is now located locally (at one time that would have been a given), and I'm sure employees that have relocated can negotiate permanent remote work. Weve onboarded countless employees remotely as well. I'm sure we're not the only one.

If they value the bottom line than they will leverage technology, jettison overpriced unnecessary office space in CBDs and reduce business travel. Which is exactly what's happening

[Via Chicago]

I mean spotify has already said their workers can permanent WFH. Office space is piling up in the loop as major corps look to downsize their footprints. I don't know why everyone is acting surprised or like this can't possibly happen

[CaptainJilliams]

I think it's way too early and premature to make any assumptions regarding where the office market is going and if WFH is the new standard moving forward. It's been barely a year since COVID struck and we're already seeing a trend towards normalization. Whether or not this trend will continue remains to be seen, but in my personal opinion, I believe a majority of people, from small and big companies, will opt for returning to the office. Major cities like NYC, Chicago, and SF still offer so much more to do after work hours in and around their city centers, and as things continue to open up you'll see more and more people doing things they did before the pandemic began.

Granted I do think it will take some time for the office market to get back to where it was, but I think people are way overreacting in suggesting that office work is dead.

[marothisu]

A person or two must have missed when Salesforce told the Chicago Tribune a few weeks ago that they're going to keep the space in their new tower but go to a hybrid model where you might come in say 3 days a week instead of 5. Maybe 1000 people are working there but on any given day really it's 600 or 700. And to be honest, at most actual larger companies it's not full capacity every day. Many people per week are usually traveling on business, or on vacation.

I work for one of the oldest and also most well respected companies in America, and one of the largest too . We are known as old school although my organization isn't necessarily anymore. A month or so ago, the COO told us in a meeting that in the beginning of the pandemic, they were extremely worried about WFH. He talked about getting back to the office to support the local economy around the offices last year too. But a month ago he said wow, everyone has shown they can get things done at home just as well and we're exploring hybrid models. We rent out around 400K sq ft in my building in Manhattan alone (many other office locations). Recently we just put up something like 100K square ft for sublease at my office. We had some teams move to NJ, but it's not more than a few hundred people. Reading between the lines, it appears as if they're really going to go to a hybrid model. Our CIO also mentioned they were looking into it a few months ago. Instead of 3000 of us at my office on a given day, it'll probably end up being something like 1500 on any given day. Not official yet but even my company, and with old school COO and CEO had a little change of heart it seems.

I can't wait to get back into the office, but there's truly days where being in my office environment is actually counter productive.

By the way,when you work at a large company , usually you are working with not only your co-located team but people from elsewhere too. Every day, I am talking to people via meetings in Seattle, Bay Area, Chicago, Florida, Philadelphia, Ohio, Florida, and India. My boss isn't even co-located with me in NYC. This is a reality of working on big products for large companies. Outside of my own team, I'm on calls half the day anyway where everyone is scattered around the US mostly.

Companies have realized in the last year that they can get a lot done at home, but employees also want to come back to the office, mostly. Considering one point is to widen margins even more, many companies are getting smart and realizing they can shed 25% of their space and still be just as productive, and their margins will probably go up too. Many people love flexibility in terms of maybe one day a week work from home, or a few days a month.

By the way, many people in cities like Chicago have been WFH for years. When I was in consulting, those people who were on remote projects but not traveling never came into the office. There's tens of thousands of consultants in Chicago alone this describes. I was on a local Chicago project for 5 years and in those 5 years we worked from home every single Friday except maybe once or twice. Again, this stuff has been going on for years in some industries... but let's complain about it now.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

You don't seem to be getting it. Employees have said they value WFH /hybrid models, and management is responding with saying "it's obvious well probably have some kind of hybrid model moving forward." I'm sitting on calls where the ceo of a multinational corp is saying this is what's happening. Maybe not all companies are this way, but I work for a big one and they've been very open and transparent about soliciting employee feedbacks and reading the tea leaves. Virtually none of my team is now located locally (at one time that would have been a given), and I'm sure employees that have relocated can negotiate permanent remote work. Weve onboarded countless employees remotely as well. I'm sure we're not the only one.

If they value the bottom line than they will leverage technology, jettison overpriced unnecessary office space in CBDs and reduce business travel. Which is exactly what's happening

You two are talking past each other.

I don't think tup is disputing that this is happening, but rather raising some very legitimate concerns over what the logical next step is. If in-person interaction no longer matters then that is one significant barrier gone when deciding to offshore or not. Be careful what you wish for.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

You can do that already today, and have been able to do so for over 20 years, as I said. Do you think email and the internet just came online in the past 12 months? Literally nothing new. There's a reason jobs are still based here in the first place. If you think you're going to get the same service, response time, quality of work and level of attentiveness and cultural nuance from India as you will from the US, knock yourself out. You're acting like offshoring is some new concept. Been there done that lol. The work inevitably winds up coming back

You want to give your 800 million dollar marketing budget to a team in Bangalore, sure its an option. Have fun having a team that dosent understand your business, much less the country or demographics you compete in, lacks cultural nuance, and can't do something as simple as respond to a real time request at 2Pm CST

Call center workers were probably saying the same thing a few decades ago. The developing world is developing and the gap will continue to close for white collar jobs just as it did for blue collar.

The more immediate transition will be from the high-cost cities (San Fran and NYC in particular) to lower-cost cities. I think this could actually be a net-gain for Chicago given how many Chicago college grads relocate to the coasts for work and now could be allowed to move back. (me, for example) But down the line those lower-cost cities could look more like Pune and Manila than Chicago or Dallas.

[Via Chicago]

Sure, could happen. The world will of course be a different place in a couple decades. There will also be industries that dont exist today. Point is, saying "get your ass back to your desk chair junior so you can brown nose your boss" is the mindset thats actually antiquated whether you want it to be or not. That kind of thing will make no difference if hybrid remote work is company policy, and beyond that way bigger forces determine whether certain industries or tasks get outsourced so pretending you as sn individual can stop it from happening is laughable

Also fretting about offshoring in 2021 is also like, three decades late. At this point its AI/automation which will wind up erasing a lot of employment in the years to come and really make the need for all this office space obsolete. Again, Im not excited about where this leads, but I dont think sticking our heads in the sand will help us prepare for that eventuality. We need to be realistic about what the actual threats are and focus on how society is going to adapt.

[west-town-brad]

All I can say is that let's go back an dust off those predictions about cities from September 12, 2001.

[Via Chicago]

hey id love to be wrong

[Handro]

I worked for a company that had its HQ in India along with all of it's engineers, but sales and marketing were here in the US (and remote for the most part.)

The Indian workers were amazing in dedication and ability, but the cultural differences were way too strong to have a person who has never left Bangalore leading a sales presentation to the CIO in New York or Boston (just the same as it would be in reverse). They were a major part of the process, but there was usually always a Western-raised Sales Engineer on the call or at the meeting. Marketing even more so--the guys in India were sharp as hell at deciphering a lot about American culture but there was a lot lost in translation.

Besides, the executives theoretically making decisions to move jobs from Chicago (or any US city) overseas is not going to be swayed by the average office hump getting "face time" by going back into the office. The average middle manager on down is not regularly rubbing elbows with the top execs of the bigger firms, who (in my anecdotal experience) are not in the home office much anyway.

That said...

https://www.chicagocityscape.com/permits..._source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#

Renovation/alteration permit at 25 W Hubbard St, Chicago, IL
Spr 2019 cbrc: convert existing office spaces at 2nd/3rd/4th/5th floors to 14 d.u. in existing 5 story office building with existing 1st floor night club & basement as per plan (occupancy groups r-2, a-2, type iv construction).**certified corrections subject to field inspections & audit **

Could be a blessing in disguise. More potential residential downtown would go a long way to enlivening the city CBD and making it more attractive to tourists in the long run.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Handro

The Indian workers were amazing in dedication and ability, but the cultural differences were way too strong to have a person who has never left Bangalore leading a sales presentation to the CIO in New York or Boston (just the same as it would be in reverse).

exactly. we have over 100 offices worldwide. but a US office would never manage a european or asian or african based piece of business. same as an asia office would never manage a US based account. and if its a big multi-national that has staffing with us globally, it would still be incredibly uncommon for us to interact with counterparts in a foreign country, beacuse the business is so fragmented and at a tactical level its a completely different ballgame.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

All I can say is that let's go back an dust off those predictions about cities from September 12, 2001.

This.




What we know for certain is that the future looks to be a hybrid, mix of WFH and work in the office, something like 2-3 days on, 2-3 days off so that the entire staff isn't at the office at the same time.

My thoughts on this is that this will not necessarily reduce office space requirement as dramatically as people think. Considering how germophobic people will be for years after the pandemic is officially over, sharing desks will not be a very popular idea (also a massive hassle in terms of files, personal objects, storage, etc.) so there will still be as many offices as there were for each employee. Pushing desks together/combining offices might be a cause for worry as well, since we have been so ingrained on social distancing and keeping a 6 foot distance. Honestly, outside of workplaces that will allow a full WFH format (which isn't likely to be the majority of employers or employees), I think we may be overblowing the demand destruction for office space in the CBD. Will it be depressed for several years, if not more? Definitely. Is it the end of vibrant downtowns as we know it? Absolutely not.

[marothisu]

The addition to the Edith Spurlock Sampson Apartments, the CHA complex for senior housing in Lincoln Park, got issued a permit to build a new 6 story building with 80 units between the 2 existing buildings. This is currently a surface parking lot and not far from the Diversey brown line stop. Not sure if it's all senior units or a combination.

Street view:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/2700+N...36bb4621e!8m2!3d41.9308528!4d-87.6538396

Rendering via Curbed from August 2019:

[ChiPlanner]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The addition to the Edith Spurlock Sampson Apartments, the CHA complex for senior housing in Lincoln Park, got issued a permit to build a new 6 story building with 80 units between the 2 existing buildings. This is currently a surface parking lot and not far from the Diversey brown line stop. Not sure if it's all senior units or a combination.

Street view:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/2700+N...36bb4621e!8m2!3d41.9308528!4d-87.6538396

Rendering via Curbed from August 2019:

It's going to be a mix of Senior and Family- should start construction late Q2. On a related note per what they presented to the community a year or two ago, they discussed selling off/developing the corner empty lot at Sheffield and Lincoln as well- though haven't heard anything on that.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by ChiPlanner

It's going to be a mix of Senior and Family- should start construction late Q2. On a related note per what they presented to the community a year or two ago, they discussed selling off/developing the corner empty lot at Sheffield and Lincoln as well- though haven't heard anything on that.

Nice to see the streetside design. Besides creating a hole in the streetscape, some of these suburban style CHA designs were ill conceived for seniors forced to struggle down a long walkway to reach a car or Pace shuttle. Developing that corner would be ideal, but I wonder if it would run into much opposition from residents of that building.

[Via Chicago]

looks like Rodriguez is backing the St Anthony proposal

https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/03/15/...rne-trade-center-site-in-little-village/

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

looks like Rodriguez is backing the St Anthony proposal

https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/03/15/...rne-trade-center-site-in-little-village/

Seems like the right move to me. A hospital can absolutely serve as a economic engine for a community with people relocating nearby, buying lunch, going to happy hour, etc.

I like Cinespace, but a parking lot seems like a rotten use for the site.

[Via Chicago]

agreed, between those two options id much rather have the hospital. between what serves the community more i dont think its even a question. cinespace by its very nature closes itself off to the community so while it would bring workers, it wouldnt offer much to the area IMO other than more restricted warehouse space.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

agreed, between those two options id much rather have the hospital. between what serves the community more i dont think its even a question. cinespace by its very nature closes itself off to the community so while it would bring workers, it wouldnt offer much to the area IMO other than more restricted warehouse space.

Yeah Cinespace is great and all, but they really don't need to be converting more and more of the neighborhood to parking lots. They can build a ramp if they really have such a parking shortage...