Walgreens will close its sprawling space at the Old Post Office near the Loop in January 2026, the pharmacy chain said on Monday.
Staff will move to the company’s suburban headquarters in Deerfield, according to an email Walgreens sent to employees.
Walgreens was one of the first and biggest tenants in the Old Post Office, at 433 W. Van Buren St., when it opened there in 2020. Its gleaming, modern space spans about 200,000 square feet and has capacity for up to 1,800 employees. The office features colorful murals of Chicago neighborhoods.
Walgreens’ retail store in the historic building will remain open, a spokesperson confirmed.
Closing its downtown office and merging employees into Walgreens’ headquarters “will streamline operations and most importantly, enhance collaboration,” Walgreens CEO Mike Motz said in an email seen by the Sun-Times. The company will shutter its downtown space on Jan. 30, 2026.
“We are sharing this news well in advance because we recognize that any change to your work location can be disruptive,” Motz’s email said.
“We are also continuing to review regional and satellite offices to ensure they effectively support our operations and maximize support for our retail footprint. These changes are not easy, but they are necessary for our continued growth.”
Walgreens did not confirm the number of employees at its Deerfield headquarters, but a 2018 news release said about 3,200 employees were there.
Many of its downtown employees work in digital and IT positions, the company said in a 2018 news release.
The Old Post Office was originally completed in 1921. But until completing a $900 million renovation and re-opening in 2019, the building sat vacant for nearly two decades, according to its website.
New York-based 601W owns the building, which for years was an empty and unsightly presence straddling the roadway that becomes the Eisenhower Expressway.
Its renovation is one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in the U.S., according to Walgreens. Today, the Old Post Office has more than 2.5 million square feet of office and event space and features a food court and a rooftop park.
Current tenants include Uber, Pepsico, Cisco, Ferrara Candy Co. and others, according to the building’s website.
Private equity firm Sycamore Partners recently completed its purchase of Walgreens in a deal valued at around $10 billion. Walgreens had announced the acquisition in March. Motz, former head of Staples, became CEO and replaced Tim Wentworth.
Early this year, Walgreens announced the shuttering of five Chicago stores on the South and West sides, part of its plans to close 1,200 locations by 2027.
Contributing: AP