Macy's to sell top floors of flagship Chicago store for $30 million

CHICAGO ­— Macy's said Tuesday it will sell the top half of its State Street flagship store in Chicago for $30 million, and the buyer plans convert the space into offices.

The announcement confirms a Tribune story in October that Macy's had struck a preliminary deal to sell floors 8 through 14 to Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management.

The deal will help make the State Street store “a more vibrant shopping destination,” Macy's spokeswoman Andrea Schwartz said in an email Tuesday.

The company expects the deal to close in the first half of the 2018 fiscal year.

Cincinnati-based Macy's has been talking about exploring ways to redevelop underused space at the Chicago store, along with three other flagships, since November 2015.

Macy's Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet told analysts in February 2017 the State Street property could see a deal similar to a 2015 transaction in Seattle, in which Macy's sold a store's upper floors to a developer that is converting the space to offices.

In April, the retailer confirmed it had hired a team of Eastdil Secured brokers to market the roughly 700,000 square feet of upper floors for sale.

Brookfield also has partnered with Macy's to redevelop as many as 50 other Macy's properties.