The retail apocalypse can wait: Georgetown Co. taps Irish retailer to lease former Gap building

Put off that retail apocalypse a little longer. A retail low-rise in the Loop that looked fated for demolition has a new life.

Building owner The Georgetown Company inked Primark, an Irish fashion retailer, to a lease for the entire 45,000-square-foot building at 35 North State Street, according to Globe Street.

When the New York-based Georgetown Company paid $23 million to buy the building in 2011 — at the time the most expensive retail transaction ever recorded on State Street on a per-square-foot basis — leaders of the firm said they were considering building a high-rise in its place, Crain’s reported at the time.

The property was previously home to an Old Navy store, and then a Gap location, which subsequently closed in 2017.

The Georgetown Company is now underway on a wholesale renovation of the property to suit its new tenant. It will be the first Midwest location for the Primark brand, which already operates nine locations across the Northeast.

Georgetown CEO Adam Flatto called the State Street corridor “one of the most sought-after retail destinations in the country.” But retailers have struggled of late in the Loop, where the retail vacancy rate climbed to nearly 14 percent last year.

Paul Bryant and Andrew Becker of the Mid-America Real Estate Group represented Georgetown in the lease. Todd Siegel, David LaPierre and Phil Golding of CBRE represented Primark.

Georgetown also owns retail space at 755 West North Avenue and 214 West Washington Street, as well as the 496-unit K2 Apartments in River West. [Globe Street] — Alex Nitkin