The North Face is taking a short hike south on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, the main shopping thoroughfare where the outdoor apparel brand plans to open a smaller store than its longtime space within the former John Hancock Center skyscraper.
The Colorado-based retailer has struck a deal to take over about 5,000 square feet on the ground floor of a four-story building at 605 N. Michigan Ave., according to the building’s owner, Chicago-based North American Real Estate.
That is far smaller than the company’s two-level, approximately 16,000-square-foot space at the base of the 100-story former John Hancock tower at 875 N. Michigan Ave.
The North Face hopes to move into the new store by late this fall, according to Savas Er, a principal at North American Real Estate.
Although the North Face deal involves a tenant cutting space in a relocation, it adds to a run of leases on the avenue where retail vacancy hit historic highs in recent years.
Recent signs of a pickup on North Michigan Avenue include a Harry Potter-themed store that recently opened, a large lease by Spanish clothing retailer Mango and Paris-based Magnicity’s decision to expand its 360 Chicago observatory near the top of the former John Hancock Center into space on the 95th and 96th floors formerly occupied by the Signature Room restaurant.
The North Face is taking over the lower portion of the two-level space recently occupied by Mexican gift shop Colores Mexicanos before the landlord opted not to renew that retailer’s two-level lease at below-market rent.
Chicago-based NARE, which last week acquired the retail portion of the historic Tribune Tower on the Mag Mile, bought the four-story office and retail building at 605 N. Michigan last August for $47 million, a fraction of the $140 million that it previously sold for in 2016.
After buying the building known for its Gothic columns, NARE has been looking to fill vacancies and land a longer-term tenant for the Colores Mexicanos space. That retail concept’s owner told Block Club Chicago that it hopes to move to another space on or near the Mag Mile.
Other tenants in 605 N. Michigan include a Chase bank branch, a Sephora store and the office of architecture firm KTGY.
The 6,000-square-foot second level previously leased to Colores Mexicanos is not part of the North Face deal. Er said that space could become part of a renewal and expansion with Chase or as part of a new two-level retail lease if the bank opts to leave in a couple of years.
The North Face sells apparel for activities such as skiing, hiking and camping. It is part of Denver-based VF Corp., whose other brands include Vans, Timberland, Dickies and JanSport.
A VF spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
“We’re very excited to bring in North Face as a tenant, and we’ve been talking to them for a while,” Er said. “We had many quality tenants interested in the storefront.”
Er said seven tenants signed letters of intent to take over the space amid an uptick in tenants seeking space on the avenue, particularly in the 600 block at the center of the mile-long retail corridor.
“With North Face signing here, I think all the remaining tenants are going to start signing leases on the avenue,” Er said.
For the record
The North Face was represented by broker Greg Kirsch of the Kirsch Agency. The landlord was represented by broker Corey Bruce of North American Real Estate.