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Add Best Buy to the ever-growing list of retailers leaving Magnificent Mile
The electronics chain plans to close its location in the former John Hancock Center in November
Best Buy plans to close its store at 875 North Michigan Avenue, adding to the retail challenges along Magnificent Mile.
The Minnesota-based electronics chain plans to close the 35,000-square-foot location in the building formerly known as the John Hancock Center in November, according to the Chicago Tribune.
A company spokesperson told the Tribune the store had one of the highest rents in the entire chain — even higher than some Manhattan locations.
The retail vacancy rate along the strip hit 12 percent last year, up from 4 percent in 2015, according to Newmark Knight Frank.
Vacant storefronts included a number of high-profile properties, like the former Apple Store at 679 North Michigan that’s been empty since 2017.
However, things along the commercial section of Michigan Avenue could be looking, well, more magnificent. Overall, rents along the Mag Mile are dropping, hitting $450 per square foot last year — a $100 drop from the previous two years, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
New York-based Madison Capital and New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors, which own the retail portion of the former Hancock building, already have received some interest in the Best Buy space, Cushman & Wakefield retail broker Greg Kirsch told the Tribune. [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien