Drive down Lake Street near Oak Park Avenue. OK, even walk the stretch from Fairgrounds Coffee to Courageous Bakery and you likely will not even notice the mid-size office building at 714 Lake St.
The former Illinois Bell building at 714 Lake St. in Oak Park has been owned by AT&T since the era when all the “Baby Bells” were rolled up into a much larger entity controlled by AT&T.
Now the building has changed hands. Do not expect much to change.
AT&T recently announced it had completed a structured sale/leaseback of that space, and dozens of others like it across the country, with real estate developer Reign Capital.
Once filled with telephone operators, the 714 building has long served as a data center – lots of equipment and not many people.
Not much is expected to change at the site, according to an AT&T spokesperson.
“Our deal with Reign Capital has no impact on employees, jobs or the services we offer customers,” the spokesperson said via email. “This is simply a real estate transaction to unlock value and streamline underutilized properties as we continue our transformation to next-generation network services. This transaction is for only a small portion of the thousands of central office properties we own across the country.”
The spokesperson said that 714 Lake St. “serves primarily as a central office housing network infrastructure that manages local voice and data communication services for our customers. Technological advancements have significantly reduced the amount of space needed to run our networks, resulting in excess space that can potentially be repurposed for other uses.”
Reign Capital, based in Manhattan, did not respond to requests for comment about the building sale or how excess space might be used.
Craig Failor, Oak Park development services director, said 714 Lake St. was one of 74 properties involved with the structured sale/leaseback to Reign Capital. The Oak Park property was sold for $5,834,810, he said.
According to an AT&T press release on the matter, central offices were built to connect larger equipment for copper networks, which are now outdated due to the ongoing shift to fiber and wireless technologies. That shift reduces power consumption, and lowers operating costs, along with freeing up real estate for other uses.
“We continue to utilize the facility, and the terms of the transaction ensure AT&T will maintain exclusive operational control over the space required for communications infrastructure in perpetuity,” the AT&T spokesperson said. “This unique deal structure also enables future profit sharing from redevelopment opportunities.”