TTX to move HQ from Chicago’s West Loop to North Carolina

Railcar company TTX will load up its headquarters in the West Loop and roll on to Charlotte, North Carolina, the latest Chicago firm to pull out of the station for good.

The 67-year-old firm announced its leadership would depart from its 106,300-square-foot corporate hub at LaSalle Investment Management’s 101 North Wacker Drive, CoStar News reported. The move is slated to begin in June and be completed by the end of next year.

TTX has occupied up to five floors of the 23-story office tower since 1995.

The 613,600-square-foot building is owned by Chicago-based LaSalle, which bought it in 2014 for $210 million. It’s 68 percent leased, including TTX, less than the 77 percent average for downtown office buildings, according CoStar.

The freight firm co-owned by North America’s largest railroad operators hinted in early 2020 that it could leave Chicago when it put its headquarters up for sublease. Its lease runs through 2027.

“We believe Charlotte presents a unique opportunity for TTX that provides for strategic partnerships to strengthen our business,” President and CEO Thomas Wells said in a statement.

The privately owned company will move 150 employees to Charlotte, where it’s expected to lease 70,000 square feet of offices at a still undisclosed address, a spokesman told the outlet.

TTX will invest $14.5 million around Charlotte, and will receive up to $1.8 million in tax incentives based on its job creation over 12 years, according to North Carolina officials.

The move follows an exodus of company headquarters from Chicagoland, including the city’s loss of Boeing last year to suburban Washington, D.C., and a move by Citadel to Miami. Last summer, Caterpillar decided to leave suburban Deerfield for Irving, Texas.

And Tyson Foods said last fall that it would move 500 jobs out of Chicago and suburban Downers Grove to its Arkansas hub.

To Chicago’s credit, Milwaukee Tool hoisted its flag over the Old Post Office, while Kimberly-Clark and the maker of John Deere tractors both opened offices in the Fulton Market District. Plus, Michigan-based Kellogg announced it would split into three companies, the largest of which will be based in Chicago.

The amount of available offices in the Chicago area remains at a historic high of 102 million square feet, or 19.8 percent of inventory, during the era of remote work, according to CoStar.

— Dana Bartholomew