Best Buy Eyes Michigan Avenue Lease

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CHICAGO-The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association looks favorably on a possible lease of more than 40,000 sf by Best Buy on Chicago’s main retail thoroughfare, though the organization says the signage will have to be as posh as the rest of the top-class retailers.

It’s rumored that Best Buy is considering a move into Chicago Place, an eight-story vertical mall at 700 N. Michigan Ave. that has suffered from vacancy, with only Saks as the anchor tenant. Though the company has put in 39 stores in various places around Chicagoland, this would be the first move by Best Buy into the Loop area. A spokesman for Best Buy tells GlobeSt.com that the company has not announced anything yet, but wants to follow the needs of customers. “We are very interested in the Michigan Avenue area.”

John Maxson, president of the association, says his group welcomes Best Buy. “We’re delighted to see them going into that space. It’s a challenged center, we’ve all been worried about Chicago Place and the profile that it has on the street. The building hasn’t fulfilled its potential to attract people to the street, that synergy of excitement that’s Michigan Avenue,” he tells GlobeSt.com.

He says Best Buy coming in would help the property. “We’ll do whatever we can to promote them getting established, as long as they conform with the laws and policies.” These laws include a special ordinance on the avenue that outlaws gaudy advertisement.

“We haven’t seen the proposed signage, so we don’t know if it will meet our approval. We try to maintain a pedestrian friendly look to the street, meaning no flashy or moving signs, no neon, and everything in relative context to color,” Maxson says.

The Best Buy spokesman says the company has shown much interest in Chicago. The company recently opened a store at 87th and the Dan Ryan Highway, into 45,000 sf at 8900 South Lafayette (the firm’s 800th store opening). Though the company is more used to big box locations, a store could go into the vertical mall-style on Michigan, he says. “We have urban stores, in areas such as New York, we can work with multiple levels,” he tells GlobeSt.com.