McDonald's confirms headquarters moving to Chicago
McDonald's Corp. said Monday it will sell its Oak Brook headquarters and move its offices and nearby training facility to Chicago in 2018.
The company will move to the former Harpo Studios, the longtime home of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” at 1045 W. Randolph St. in Chicago's West Loop.
However, the move will not include the McDonald's museum on Lee Street in Des Plaines. The company also will continue to operate its Innovation Center in Romeoville. But the company still is considering what to do with another recently acquired property at 711 Jorie Blvd. in Oak Brook, known as the former Dominick's headquarters.
“Now that we have signed a lease in Chicago, we will begin to work with a third party to market our Oak Brook facilities to potential buyers,” said McDonald's spokeswoman Becca Hary. “Our current space in Oak Brook has served us well for many years, but as we build a better McDonald's for customers and employees, we need to provide a modern space to foster collaboration and attract the best talent. The new office location will help us deliver on our commitment to operate more efficiently and effectively.”
The new location provides the company an urban setting for its Hamburger University to attract students, leaders, owners/operators and suppliers and offer state-of-the-art technology for learning, Hary said.
The move, along with about 2,100 employees, also marks a return to Chicago, where the company was headquartered from 1955 to 1971.
“Nearly all U.S. and corporate departments currently based in Oak Brook will move downtown,” Hary said.
Rumors had been circulating for a while that McDonald's was seeking a new headquarters in the city, just as many other companies have done in recent years. Many are downsizing their sprawling suburban campuses, including Motorola Solutions in Schaumburg, which sold off parcels for other developments including the new headquarters for Zurich North America.
“We're sad to see McDonald's leave because it's been a very close corporate partner,” said Oak Brook Village Manager Rick Ginex. “But we also see this as an opportunity for the village because it has a lot of acreage.”
The McDonald's headquarters and university includes about 150 acres, and the company also acquired some nearby fields as well as the former Dominick's headquarters on Jorie Boulevard, Ginex said.
“It's too early to say what economic impact this would be, but we think it will have some type of reduction since the employees shopped at our mall and ate in our restaurants. But that could be temporary,” Ginex said.
McDonald's is likely the longest and largest employer in Oak Brook, which also is home to Ace Hardware, Blistex and others.
Oak Brook doesn't have real estate taxes for homes and companies, so Ginex believes that would be an incentive for future companies looking at the McDonald's site.
Chicago has attracted several suburban corporations in recent years, including Motorola Solutions, Motorola Mobility and Kraft Heinz. Even McDonald's opened a satellite office in the River North area.
“McDonald's has identified the keys to success to today's global market, talent, technology and access to transportation networks, and they recognize these as Chicago's strengths,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. Grant Klinzman, a spokesman for Emanuel, said no incentives were providing to McDonald's for the move.