Rosebud Restaurants will take over the three-level former Tavern at the Park space in Prudential Plaza, which comes with a rooftop terrace overlooking Millennium Park.
The deal for the flagship restaurant space is part of a major overhaul of retail in the two-tower complex, one of the largest office properties in Chicago.
It will be the sixth Chicago restaurant for Rosebud, owned by Alex Dana.
The new location is expected to feature Italian food and steaks, but the exact concept has not been finalized, Rosebud spokesman Tom Claxton said.
The space is highly visible, just east of the high-traffic intersection of Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street.
“Tavern at the Park was the face of our building,” said Jessica Brown, director of leasing at Sterling Bay. “To give the building a face-lift and really make a statement, we had to get control of that space. It’s going to feel like a completely different building.”
Sterling Bay bought Prudential Plaza for $680 million in April 2018, in what remains the largest Chicago office sale since 2015. Marketing it under the name One Two Pru, Sterling Bay has turned over almost all of the retail space.
The goal of the retail shakeup is to keep more of the office complex’s 9,000 daily office workers on-site for meals, and to pull from the 90,000 pedestrians who pass through the lobby each week as they pass through the Pedway, Brown said.
“Our goal was to make it as sticky as possible with the office tenants, and to make the argument that there’s no reason to leave,” Brown said. “You do that by making the lobby, retail and amenities as attractive as possible.”
Tavern at the Park closed in March after 12 years in business, when Sterling Bay bought the restaurant. The developer also bought out the leases of a convenience store, Market Creations restaurant and Snarf’s sandwich shop.
Other new retail tenants headed to the building are a Beatrix Market coffeehouse and restaurant, a Just Salad restaurant and an Athletico physical therapy space.
Longtime tenant Giordano’s is expanding into part of the former Market Creations space, the rest of which remains available. The only other available space is the Caffé RoM coffee shop on the second-floor concourse level; the coffee shop will move out when a new lease is signed, according to Brown.
A new Amazon Go store already has opened in the complex, which has a shared lobby.
Rosebud is expected to open in the third quarter of this year, and there will be 400-plus seats, Brown said. The other new retailers are expected to open this spring or summer, she said.
For the Rosebud deal, Sterling Bay plans to replace Tavern at the Park’s dark gold facade with a light silver, as well as other aesthetic changes to brighten the inside and outside of the space, Brown said. The third-level roof deck will be rebuilt, and interior stairs will be added to connect the second and third floors, which currently are linked only by elevator, she said.
Rosebud has four Chicago restaurants under the Rosebud name and another for its Carmine’s concept, which also has a Rosemont location. There also are suburban Rosebud restaurants in Deerfield, Naperville and Lemont.
Rosebud was represented in the new lease by David Goldberg of GoldStreet Partners.
In addition to retail changes, Sterling Bay also has invested $4 million upgrading amenities, a process that included using a helicopter to lift an Airstream trailer food truck onto the roof deck. Meeting and event rooms were added on the 11th floor, whose other amenities include a tenant lounge and fitness center.
Most of the amenities are managed by Convene, which provides services and runs several meeting and corporate event spaces in Chicago and other large cities.
Office space is 91% leased, according to Sterling Bay.
Prudential office tenants include the Chicago Tribune and offices of its parent company, Tribune Publishing, and the headquarters of Wilson Sporting Goods.
Twitter @Ryan_Ori
