Commercial real estate firm Ryan moves into West Loop office building

A Minnesota real estate company is moving into a new office in Chicago’s West Loop, betting on downtown because that’s where its business is coming from.

Ryan Cos., which offers construction, architectural and engineering services, will move into space at 224 North Desplaines Street, the Chicago Business Journal reported. The new 6,500-square-foot office can accommodate about 35 full-time employees and will be its second regional office after its outpost at 700 Oakmont Lane in Westmont, 20 miles from the city, where about 150 employees work.

The company employs more than 1,800 people across 16 different offices, according to Jim McDonald, president of Ryan’s Great Lakes region.

“Our business is increasingly bringing us downtown as we capture more market share,” McDonald said in a statement to the Business Journal. “Our region’s business platform has grown significantly in recent years, so we need additional office space to accommodate our larger team and our growth strategies.”

Chicago’s central business district had a catastrophic year in 2021, buckling under the pandemic strains that had already devastated the suburban office market the year before. The office vacancy rate in downtown Chicago increased by almost 24 percent between the end of 2020 and the end of last year, hitting a record 20.3 percent in the fourth quarter, according to figures from Cushman & Wakefield.

Ryan Cos. is developing the Clarendale Six Corners senior living community at Irving Park Road and Milwaukee Avenue on the city’s Northwest Side. The 10-story, 258-unit complex will cover 1.25 acres of the four-acre parcel known as The Point at Six Corners. The project, which is being co-developed by LCS and Harrison Street, is expected to be completed by this fall and will cost about $117 million.

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