Cisco Systems moving office from Chicago to Rosemont
Despite a slowing economy, developers began work Friday on a $37 million office building in Rosemont that will serve as the new regional office and customer training center for computer networking giant Cisco Systems.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company will lease about two thirds of the four-story, 121,000-square-foot building, to be called the Rosemont Corporate Center. Cisco Systems has more than 400 employees at its current office nearby at O'Hare Plaza on Chicago's Northwest side.
The building is being developed by the Naperville office of Ryan Companies US Inc., which developed Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, and The Harp Group., an Oak Brook-based property development and hospitality company that plans to relocate into 8,500 square feet in the new building.
The 3-acre site bounded by Balmoral Avenue, River Road and I294.
The site is immediately west of the recently opened Intercontinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel, which was also developed by Harp. It also is adjacent to Rosemont's planned entertainment district, which aside from the Muvico movie complex which opened 15 months ago, has been proceeding slower than anticipated as negotiations with a couple of developers have foundered. If a developer's bid to build a casino in Rosemont is approved, it would be part of that district.
The building is being designed and built to meet the criteria for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. "Green building" status was important to Cisco Systems, Tim Hennelly, Ryan's vice president of development, said in a statement.
Groundbreaking for the project was Friday. Site work will begin in December. The building is scheduled for occupancy by the second quarter of 2010.