Ferrara Candy confirms Old Main Post Office space, will bring 400 jobs to downtown Chicago

Ferrara Candy, maker of Lemonheads, Nerds and other treats, will move its headquarters from Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois to the Old Post Office in downtown Chicago, confirming previously reported rumors. The company, which plans to move in by late summer 2019, has leased 77,000 square feet in the building and will bring approximately 400 employees to the West Loop location.

“Today we are proud to call Chicago home again,” said Todd Siwak, Ferrara CEO. “We are growing a world-class organization that attracts top talent, while providing opportunitiess to develop and grow along their career journey.”

Located at 433 W. Van Buren Street, the Old Post Office is currently undergoing a $500 million renovation. 601W Companies acquired the 2.8 million-square-foot, Art Deco building in 2016 and tapped architecture firm Gensler to draw up a vision for the building’s second life, including the addition of a new food hall, a tenant-accessible rooftop and a new riverwalk. The Telos Group, a Chicago-based real estate services firm, is handling leasing on the project.

As Siwak noted, this will be a homecoming as the candy company was formed in Chicago’s Little Italy 110 years ago. The company was bought by the similarly named but unrelated Italian firm, Ferrero Group, in December 2017. Ferrara employs around 2,000 in Illinois, though the Oakbrook Terrace headquarters contains between 300 and 400.

The confectioner is the second confirmed tenant in the redeveloped building. This past June, the holding company for Walgreens committed to more than 200,000 square feet inside the Old Post Office. Approximately 1,800 employees will move into the building, though the company will retain its Deerfield, Illinois headquarters when the new office opens in the fall of 2019.