Macy’s will move its River North Bloomingdale’s store out of the 130,000-square-foot Medinah Temple, and put the historic building up for sale.
The retailer, which has been struggling amid the e-commerce boom, will consolidate the department store at 600 North Wabash Avenue into the existing Bloomingdale’s location at the 900 North Michigan Shops along the Magnificent Mile, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Representatives of Macy’s have not said how much they are seeking for the Medinah Temple location.
Prolific River North developer Friedman Properties restored the former Shriners temple in 2001 as part of a deal that left Macy’s to manage the building, with Friedman owning the underlying land. Friedman had signed Bloomingdale’s parent company — at that time known as Federated Department Stores — to a 25-year lease, on which a buyer of the building would continue to pay rent.
Also in 2001, the city designated the Medinah Temple a historic landmark.
Earlier this year, Macy’s sold the top half of its flagship building at 111 North State Street to a venture of the Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management for $30 million.
Last month, Friedman released a plan to build a 600,000-square-foot office tower on the site of an existing fire house at 444 North Dearborn Street. [Chicago Tribune] — Alex Nitkin