(CHICAGO) – Hines, a global real estate firm, and Salesforce, the global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), celebrated the topping out of Salesforce Tower Chicago yesterday – the 60-story, 1.2 million-square-foot office tower – with a ceremony and beam signing. The topping out marks a significant milestone toward the completion of the Wolf Point master plan, a three-phase development designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, located on one of Chicago’s last remaining riverfront sites in downtown Chicago. Held on the tenant plaza at the adjacent Wolf Point East, Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar spoke to a gathering of 130 people about the importance of investment and development across Chicago’s communities. He was joined by Jim Walsh, senior managing director at Hines and Chris Kennedy of Wolf Point Owners LLC.
“This is a very exciting moment for Salesforce and the city is thankful to take these steps with them,” said Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar. “Salesforce has been an incredible partner to the city and is home to thousands of workers here. We look forward to their expansion returning and welcoming workers back in 2023 with this incredible building.”
As part of its Midwest expansion plan, Salesforce will occupy 500,000 square feet in the trophy tower upon completion in 2023. Salesforce Tower Chicago is the most prominent piece of the Wolf Point master plan which includes two luxury apartment towers, 2.5 acres of landscaped park and 1,000 linear feet of river frontage. The tower enjoys dramatic views in all directions and reflects all of Hines’ global best practices resulting in the most advanced and amenitized office building in Chicago. Amenities include a club-quality fitness center with locker rooms and showers, a conference center with multiple configurations and capacity sizes, a tenant lounge and approximately 25,000 square feet of commercial retail space, including a variety of food and beverage concepts.
“We could not be more excited to 'top out’ Salesforce Tower Chicago and join the city's architectural legacy with one of our most sustainable buildings to date," said Michele Schneider, senior vice president of global workplace services at Salesforce. "Chicago has been an incredible home to Salesforce, with its vibrant culture, diverse talent pool and rich history. We look forward to welcoming employees, customers, partners and the community to the building early next year, and we’re committed to investing in and giving back to the city that has given so much to us.”
The topping out of the Salesforce Tower Chicago marks a lofty ESG achievement as well, with the building being the first ever office tower to achieve a 19% reduction in carbon emissions. Nineteen percent equates to a total verifiable structure carbon savings of over 7 million kilograms of C02 which is more than 1,500 cars off the road for a year, or about 800,000 gallons of gas. This was accomplished by following Hines’ authored “Embodied Carbon Reduction Guide,” which provides the tools and best practices for competitors and partners alike to achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions in an effort to collectively lower the built environment’s responsibility for 38% of all carbon generated across the globe.
“The topping out of Salesforce Tower marks a momentous occasion, not just in our construction timeline, but also in the impact that this innovative and sustainable development has on Chicago,” said Jim Walsh, senior managing director at Hines. “As leaders of their own industry, we’re proud to have the Salesforce name represented on our newest Chicago development and look forward to completion next year.”
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $90.3 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2021.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360° view of their customers. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.
