IL: Ace Hardware Opens New, 250,000-Square-Foot Headquarters in Oak Brook

The 250,000-square-foot build-out of Ace Hardware Corporation’s new headquarters has been completed. The project, located at 2915 Jorie Boulevard in Oak Brook, has transformed the main building on the former McDonald’s corporate campus into a vibrant, modern, amenity-filled workplace for the hardware wholesaler.

Construction began on February 16, 2023 and was officially completed on schedule on September 18, 2023. Ace Hardware’s first day of business in the new space was September 25, and the company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 10.

The Ace Hardware project team includes Skender as general contractor, CBRE Design Collective as architect and Environmental Systems Design as engineer.

The new Ace headquarters consists of open workstations, 150 conference rooms, 12 cafes/pantries and a variety of collaboration spaces and amenities. Originally built in the 1970s and designed by Dirk Lohan, grandson of famed architect Mies van der Rohe, the former McDonald’s campus consists of three Brutalist-style buildings occupying more than 80 acres in Oak Brook. The campus has been empty since 2019, when the fast-food giant moved its headquarters to downtown Chicago.

The renovation has repurposed many of the main building’s original architectural elements, including a large atrium in the center that connects the rest of the building, and sky wells that allow ample natural light to flow throughout the space.

Demountable office and conference fronts were installed, which in addition to being more sustainable and economical than drywall, create functional, soundproof and visually private interior office spaces. They also enable faster construction and provide flexibility for reconfiguration options in the future.

The project team ran all electrical and low-voltage cabling under the entire second, third and fourth floors, which are built on an existing six-inch raised-floor system. To combat external supply chain challenges, Skender worked with Ace Hardware to procure materials earlier than usual and leveraging flexible phasing and work sequencing to further streamline the construction schedule. In addition to Skender’s work on the main building, the landlord converted the first floor of the parking garage into an amenity suite that includes a fitness center, conference center, multi-purpose room, and large cafeteria and dining center with commercial kitchen.

“We’ve worked very closely with Ace from the early pre-construction, budgeting and design phase all the way through completion,” said Tom Walsh, project manager at Skender. “The Ace team was always welcomed on site, and as a result, we were able to make adjustments early in the process to ensure their satisfaction. We were able to see first-hand their excitement grow with each construction milestone.”