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Hines announces heavy timber office building on Chicago’s Goose Island

Hines announces heavy timber office building on Chicago’s Goose Island

Chicago — Hines, an international real estate firm, in a joint venture with Diversified Real Estate Capital, LLC and Big Bay Realty, LLC, will develop T3 Goose Island — a seven-story, 270,000-square-foot heavy timber office development. The project will be the first wood-structured office building developed in Chicago since the 1800s.

Goose Island, an industrial and manufacturing hub since the 1850s, is now being reinvented as a highly desirable office location surrounded by the most affluent residential neighborhoods in Chicago. Sparked by the North Branch Framework, approved by City Council in July, the plan includes infrastructure improvements, added public, pedestrian and bike-friendly transit options, and open space to take advantage of Goose Island’s natural setting on the Chicago River. Until 2015, the T3 Goose Island site was home to Big Bay Lumber.

Hines will work with DLR Group and Michael Green Architects, the architectural team behind the firm’s prototype T3 project in Minneapolis, to design a timber-structured building in homage to the history of the site and as a market differentiator in Goose Island’s evolving neighborhood.

“Users are seeking authentic office environments that enable their culture. They want modern design, efficient operations and environmentally sensitive construction and T3 Goose Island will deliver on all of their expectations,” said Brian Atkinson, Hines managing director.

Designed for collaboration and work/life balance, T3 will offer an exceptional complement of amenities including common social areas, a shared rooftop deck, private tenant-only balconies on each floor, bike storage and repair, a modern fitness facility with locker rooms, and dynamic ground floor retail.

Surrounded by the most vibrant residential neighborhoods in Chicago, including: Bucktown, Wicker Park, Lincoln Park and Old Town, Goose Island is becoming a new hub for progress, easily accessible by bike, water taxi, bus, Metra and car.

The environmental benefit of using wood on T3 is the equivalent to taking 966 cars off the road for a year. With timber as the structural system of the project, T3 will be one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable developments in Chicago.