Local restaurant Prasino Cafe is leasing 2,800 square feet at the riverwalk level of Trump International Hotel & Tower on the Chicago River, ending 17 years of empty space at the mezzanine.
The lease fills only 4 percent of the total 70,000-square-foot retail space at 401 North Wabash Avenue, but it’s a start. The remainder of the space is unfilled, and has been since the tower opened in 2009, according to CoStar. Every attempt to fill the space in Chicago’s second-tallest skyscraper has come up short.
In part, multiple levels of the tower have remained vacant because of the polarizing nature of its developer and namesake, according to the outlet, President Donald Trump.
Goldstreet Partners broker David Goldberg, who represented Prasino, told the publication, “take politics out of this and it’s some of the best space in the entire county. Trump or no Trump, Chicago wants to see this space filled.”
Access to the riverwalk portion of the tower is another factor. The building is the natural site of anti-Trump protests, and its layout isn’t friendly to retailers otherwise.
Prasino will also open space at the base of residential towers in the Loop and Fulton Market this summer. The Trump Tower location is expected to open in spring 2027, according to the outlet.
Trump Tower is a mixed-use building, with 98 stories worth of 486 luxury condos, a 339-key hotel and the retail space. Its total square footage is 2.6 million square feet. Its height trails only the city’s tallest skyscraper — Blackstone-owned Willis Tower — by just 62 feet.
Recently, the Trump Organization attempted to push its brand into Australia. The effort came up empty. Developer Altus Property Group nixed plans for a 91-story Trump International Hotel & Tower in Gold Coast, Australia, citing the “toxicity”of the Trump brand internationally. The Trump Organization blamed Altus for the failure, saying they were “unable to meet the most basic financial obligation” for the $1.5 billion development.
— Hunter Cooke
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