As Work Space, Old Post Offices Have a Timeless Allure
“Truly unique postindustrial space can’t be replicated, especially in great locations,” said Matt Garrison, a managing principal at R2 Companies, a Chicago real estate company
that bought a 1.1-million-square-foot postal distribution center in downtown Milwaukee from an investor in 2015.
The redevelopment will turn former mail-processing areas into uncommon office spaces, taking advantage of expansive spaces with 19-foot-high
ceilings, said Brian Whiting, president of Telos Group, a Chicago brokerage firm looking for tenants to fill the building.
It’s an orientation of the past that we want to bring into the future.”
In a former two-story warehouse on the property, Lovett wants to create spaces for shops, artists
and food purveyors on the ground level and office areas geared toward creative companies on the second floor.
It’s up to 200,000 square feet on a floor and a really open space with great light” and transportation links, Mr. Rosen said.
“It literally allows us to create an entire neighborhood in the building, or multiple neighborhoods
in the building to give people that work community they’re really looking for.”
Two developers, the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, are making a similar bet on the James A. Farley Building in Manhattan, a building completed in 1913
that features a facade with Corinthian-style columns along one side.