Residential brokerage firm @properties is expanding its Chicago footprint with a Gold Coast lease. The 5,800-square-foot office will open this fall on the 8th floor of the Bloomingdales Building, 900 N. Michigan Avenue.
“We would certainly describe this new office as a flagship,” said @properties co-founder, Thad Wong. “As the leader in the luxury market, it is important for us to provide our agents and clients with a first-class working and meeting space in what many would consider the nicest office building in the best location in the Gold Coast.”
Wong and @properties co-founder, Mike Golden, also acknowledged the significance of the timing. Many downtown shops, restaurants and offices are still reeling from the impact of COVID-19. And the recent looting along the Magnificent Mile has created fear among workers, shoppers, business owners and residents. But @properties is looking past the challenges of 2020.
“We are definitely not in the camp that the city’s best days are behind it,” said Golden. “As a company that was essentially founded and built on the incredible growth of the downtown residential market over the past two decades, we believe Chicago will make it through this moment in time and emerge even stronger.”
@properties’ new office at 900 North Michigan will be co-managed by Rick Sobin and Grace Goro Kaage. The space will feature a combination of shared desks, private “team rooms” for agents who work in teams, conference rooms and open breakout space for impromptu meetings and collaborations. The location will serve approximately 300 agents, although Golden and Wong said many of those agents will spend much of their time working remotely.
“The work-from-home and co-working phenomena were the model in residential brokerage long before COVID-19,” said Wong.
Even so, Wong noted that a brick-and-mortar presence is something that is vital to @properties’ agents, clients and culture. “At the end of the day, we are a real estate company, and we are a local company; and we want to be a place where people can come and feel comfortable and excited about a milestone event in their lives.”
In addition to the space at 900 North Michigan, @properties will maintain an existing storefront office in the Gold Coast, at 906 N. State Street.
