Chicago at dusk. Photo: Shutterstock

Citing a need for more collaborative workspace and lacking an appetite for multiyear renovations at its current Windy City headquarters, Kirkland & Ellis is moving to a new office tower further west along the Chicago River.

As many firms look to reshape their footprint after a year and a half of remote work, the No. 1-ranked Am Law 100 firm said in a statement this week that its 1,700 lawyers and staff in the city are "excited" to move from the firm's current home at 300 N. LaSalle Street to a tower being constructed at 333 Wolf Point. Both spots are in the city's downtown business center.

Firm chairman Jon A. Ballis said in a release Monday that Kirkland will miss its current spot, "but if we were to stay we would need to completely renovate our practice floors to create more collaborative workspaces and therefore the resulting multiyear construction disruption to our personnel made moving the clear choice for us."

The news comes as numerous firms say they're rethinking physical space in a post-COVID-19 era.

A representative for Kirkland did not immediately say whether the pandemic had any effect leading up to the announcement today, but some firms have given an indication of where the market is headed.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson earlier this summer announced it was signing a long-term lease renewal for its 400,000-square-foot office in New York City—at the time, the largest office lease in Lower Manhattan since the start of the pandemic, and the largest 10-plus year deal in the Big Apple in 2021.

Around the same time, Boies Schiller Flexner confirmed it was subletting another floor in its four-story office space at 55 Hudson Yards, noting it was part of a "broader strategic review" of its geographic footprint.

Earlier this year, Dechert signed a short-term lease renewal to occupy four floors, comprising 109,000 square feet, in its Philadelphia office, marking a one-half reduction to the firm's occupancy from its original lease agreement roughly 15 years ago.

Another Philadelphia-born firm, Blank Rome, also recently renegotiated its lease agreement to be more flexible.

Kirkland's new home in the 60-story, 1.2 million square-foot Wolf Point building is being developed by Hines, and its primary tenant is Salesforce, the customer relations software company. Kirkland's lead brokers on the site selection and lease negotiation hail from Newmark Group, and the firm's decision to move "was part of a comprehensive, multisite selection process," according to a statement from Newmark.