Zurich Relocating Chicago Office to Greener Work Environment

Zurich North America will relocate its Chicago office to a LEED-certified building in a location that accommodates its downtown-based employees, the company announced on Wednesday.

Its new Chicago office space at 300 South Riverside Plaza on the 20th and 21st floors aligns to Zurich’s corporate responsibility strategy by contributing to the insurer’s worldwide goal of reducing its global carbon footprint, the company stated.

Zurich has already begun remodeling its new Chicago office space. The move will take place during the second quarter of 2014.

Zurich announced it would add 150 employees to its Chicago office over the next three years, raising its total Chicago employee base to 500 insurance and risk management professionals by 2015.

Accommodating that larger workforce was another reason for Zurich’s decision to relocate from 10 South Riverside Plaza, the company stated.

“Having a strong presence in the City of Chicago, as well as our North American headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., underscores our continued commitment to growth and partnership in Chicagoland,” Mike Foley, CEO of Zurich North America Commercial, said in a statement.

Zurich’s ties to Chicago include insuring the construction for the first section of the Chicago Subway in 1930 and insuring the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. It’s also where Zurich chose to open its first U.S. headquarters in 1912 in the Chicago Loop’s then-tallest skyscraper – the Insurance Exchange Building. In 1980, Zurich moved its North American headquarters to Schaumburg, Ill.

Zurich employs roughly 2,500 people at its Schaumburg headquarters.

Zurich Insurance Group is a multi-line insurance provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East as well as other markets. Zurich employs about 60,000 people serving customers in more than 170 countries. The Ggoup, formerly known as Zurich Financial Services Group, is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872.