The North American subsidiary of Netherlands-based ABN Amro Bank is to invest $500 million in the development of a new technology centre in Chicago.
The bank says the development will help reduce operational costs by consolidating most of its administrative functions, currently scattered across five downtown office buildings, into a single purpose-built facility. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year and is slated for completion in 2003. It is expected to house several thousand of the bank's North American employees.
"ABN AMRO North America and LaSalle Bank need additional high-tech space to support technology, " says Norman Bobins, chairman, president, and CEO, LaSalle Bank. "With the enormous growth of e-commerce and its impact on banking, we must ensure that our facilities can support the technology needed."
Hines, a developer of technology-intensive facilities, is to act as programme manager, and local architectural practice DeStefano and Partners has been engaged as the design architect for the two-phased twin-office tower project.