Urban Outfitters is closing its Gold Coast store in Chicago, creating a rare large availability in a high-rent neighborhood where retail has outperformed the broader market for years.
The clothing and home goods chain will vacate its multilevel space at 1100 N. State St. this month, according to a sign in the window and brokers at CBRE who are marketing the space to prospective tenants.
Urban Outfitters’ exit comes as its lease expires about a decade after the company made a pioneering move north from its previous space at 935 N. Rush St. into an area long known more for dining than shopping.
The vacancy will be the latest test of the strength of top U.S. luxury retail markets, which have outperformed the broader market since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020.
The area around 1100 N. State is still surrounded by high-profile restaurants and bars — including Maple & Ash, which shares the three-story building with Urban Outfitters. That restaurant, which CBRE says is one of the highest-grossing restaurants in the country, occupies part of the ground floor and the full third floor.
CBRE is looking for a new tenant to fill Urban Outfitters’ space on the ground and lower levels. Including the vacant second floor, a tenant could lease anywhere from 5,000 to 19,007 square feet, according to CBRE.
The property is owned by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
It’s unclear whether Urban Outfitters could resurface someday in the Gold Coast.
Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters, whose other brands include Anthropologie and Free People, did not respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
Urban Outfitters also has Chicago-area stores at 1521 N. Milwaukee Ave. in the city and in the suburban Westfield Old Orchard and Oakbrook Center shopping malls.
Elsewhere in the country, Urban Outfitters has been rolling out a new store format and creating resale stores called Reclectic.
Talks ongoing
One of the CBRE brokers marketing the Gold Coast space, Danny Jacobson, said there already have been talks with prospective tenants in anticipation of the vacancy, from sectors such as clothing, food and beverage, furniture and home décor. Some prospective tenants would be new to Chicago, he said.
“When Urban moved here, it was stretching the market for apparel and soft goods,” Jacobson said. “The desire to be in the Gold Coast is always increasing from tenants. There’s very little availability. That was the case going into COVID, and it’s only accelerated. Our marketing efforts have really benefited from that lack of available space.”
Even as the nearby Magnificent Mile and other areas of the market have faced struggles since the pandemic arrived in early 2020, the Gold Coast has thrived.
The building at 1100 N. State is in a pocket of the Gold Coast known to Chicagoans as the Viagra Triangle, a reference to the shape formed by State and Rush streets and Bellevue Place and to the wealthy men who frequent the area with younger companions.
In addition to waves of new retailers in recent years, the Rush Street restaurant scene is undergoing major changes.
A redevelopment of retail at the base of the 52-story Newberry Tower Plaza residential tower and Convexity Properties’ plans for an apartment tower on the former Barnes & Noble site at 1120 and 1130 N. State St. will further boost the area, Jacobson said.
“There’s little availability on Oak, Walton and Rush streets,” said John Vance, a Stone Real Estate retail broker who is not involved with the property at 1100 N. State.
“If you’re a tenant, you’ve got to talk with landlords and start asking when leases expire,” Vance said. “Because of that, the trade area needs to move north. It’s already happening. Eventually, Gold Coast retail will expand all the way to Division Street.”
For the record
The landlord is represented by CBRE brokers Danny Jacobson, Stephen Ansani and Luke Molloy.