In a downtown where empty office floors have become uncomfortably common, one West Loop high-rise is suddenly buzzing again. The Bell, the newly rebranded 225 W. Randolph, has turned from a mostly vacant tower into a fast-leasing test case for how far a full gut renovation and hospitality-style perks can go in luring workers back to the Loop.
According to the Chicago Business Journal, Vancouver-based Onni Group poured roughly $130 million into stripping the 32-story building down to its bones and rebuilding it for a post-pandemic office market. The property's leasing materials now list about 850,000 rentable square feet and detail a full overhaul of HVAC systems and windows, per Telos Group's marketing pages.
Amenity crown: a 75,000-square-foot penthouse
The Bell's calling card sits at the very top. The upper three floors hold a roughly 75,000-square-foot trilevel amenity deck that reads more like a lifestyle club than a conventional office setup. Tenants get a health club with cold plunge and saunas, two pickleball courts, several lounges and bars, rooftop terraces and conferencing space sized for more than 200 people.
Onni Group senior vice president Greg Wilks said the project was designed to "deliver a modern workplace that meets the changing needs of our tenants and their employees," in a statement published with Neal Gerber Eisenberg's move announcement; the firm also laid out many of the amenity details in that release. The oversized amenity package, closer in feel to a boutique hotel than a traditional downtown office tower, is being marketed as a draw for hybrid teams that only trek into the office a few days a week.
Big leases are following the makeover
The leasing uptick came quickly. Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg was among the first major tenants to sign on and plan a relocation to The Bell, as reported by CoStar. Another sizable commitment, a roughly 200,000-square-foot lease to Golub Capital, helped push the building toward majority occupancy, according to Traded.
Industry posts and the tower's leasing materials also point to tenants such as BDO USA and Blueprint taking space at The Bell, signaling a mix that leans heavily on law, finance and other professional services firms.
What this means for downtown Chicago
Chicago's central business district is still wrestling with stubbornly high office vacancy, which has made large-scale rehabs like The Bell an appealing strategy for landlords trying to steady their buildings. As reported by Chicago Business Journal, downtown office vacancy is hovering near 26 percent, and owners are increasingly pairing aggressive amenity upgrades with tax incentives in the hunt for long-term leases.
If The Bell keeps landing big, durable tenants, other owners may treat its gut-and-rebuild approach as a roadmap for stabilizing older towers and the broader downtown inventory. The property's official leasing page lists broker contacts and an active signup for tours, and Onni's leasing team says move-ins are already underway. For West Loop watchers, The Bell has become a live experiment in whether a hospitality-forward amenity stack can actually change the math for hybrid workplaces.
