A 22-story office tower at 55 E. Jackson Blvd. in Chicago's Loop business district sits nearly vacant after its previous owner and lender surrendered control, and the building's receiver is now pitching it as a candidate for residential or hotel conversion. The building's steep falloff marks the latest sign of distress among the city's aging commercial towers, even as developers across downtown race to turn empty office floors into apartments.
According to CoStar News, the 455,000-square-foot building at Jackson Boulevard and Wabash Avenue is now nearly empty, with its receiver marketing it for potential conversion rather than continued use as office space. The tower sits on land still owned by Marc Realty, which sold the ground leasehold to an affiliate of Virginia-based Firenze Group for $64 million in 2019, financed in part with a $44 million floating-rate loan.
How the Tower Lost Its Anchor Tenant
The building's troubles trace back to the exit of DePaul University, which had leased 158,000 square feet — more than a third of the tower — before pulling out to consolidate its administrative offices at buildings on its campus. The university's departure, detailed by The Real Deal, left the owner struggling to replace the tenant, as rising interest rates pressured office valuations.
Those pressures came to a head when Firenze Group defaulted on its ground lease in 2023, The Real Deal reported; the property was financed in part with a $44 million loan. The lender later exited, and a receiver stepped in to control the property, setting the stage for today's conversion pitch.
A Building Caught in Chicago's Office Slump
The vacancy crisis at 55 E. Jackson Blvd. is playing out against a grim backdrop for downtown Chicago office space. Total office vacancy downtown reached 25.6% in the second quarter of 2026, according to JLL, as Class B and C buildings kept bleeding tenants even while top-tier Class A towers posted modest gains. Downtown Class B and C space recorded more than 127,000 square feet of negative net absorption in that quarter alone.
That slump has made adaptive reuse one possible response for empty towers, with developers considering office-to-residential conversions in downtown Chicago.
City Incentives Fuel a Conversion Wave
City Incentives Fuel a Conversion Wave Chicago has put public money behind the strategy. Bellwether Residences at 79 W. Monroe St. is the first completed downtown office-to-housing project under the LaSalle Street Reimagined program, with 117 mixed-income apartments backed by $28 million in city Tax Increment Financing — part of a broader push to convert underused Loop offices into mixed-income housing. Separately, the City of Chicago approved a $50 million TIF loan in July to back a $166.5 million conversion of the office complex at 111 W. Monroe St. into a 308-room hotel alongside 345 mixed-income apartments, a project the city estimates will create 250 permanent jobs and generate $8.3 million annually in hotel and sales taxes.
Similar deals are stacking up nearby. Chicago developer Mavrek Development is pursuing a $90 million office-to-residential conversion at 209 W. Jackson Blvd. after pre-leasing a 252-unit conversion at 65 E. Wacker Place, while a seven-story Gold Coast office building at 1165 N. Clark St. recently sold for just $6.8 million for conversion into 80 apartments — a steep drop from its $22.8 million sale price in 2015 that shows how far valuations have fallen for buildings like 55 E. Jackson.
Whether 55 E. Jackson Blvd. follows that same path remains to be seen. For now, the receiver's pitch adds one more aging Loop tower to a growing list of Chicago office buildings betting that housing, not office tenants, is the surer path forward.
