Ride-hailing giant Uber has temporarily put the construction of its massive office space in Chicago’s Old Post Office on hold. This marks the city’s first big construction project to be halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Employees working remotely to stop the spread of COVID-19 has been a major challenge for Uber.

Last year, the tech giant had signed a 10-year lease for 463,000 square feet in the Old Post Office. Uber is apparently planning to merge its Chicago offices and hire 2,000 new employees in the city over the next three years.

Uber said while it doesn’t expect to move until 2021, it is unlikely that their will be any changes to its strategy or expectations regarding the expansion in Chicago.

The San Francisco-based company is currently focusing on projects that serve customers while everyone works from home. Uber also announced it has temporarily paused hiring and postponed construction activities in Dallas. The company had issued a company-wide hiring halt until the end of May in wake of the pandemic.

Uber’s new office will supposedly serve as headquarters for its freight business that connects truck drivers with shippers. Although Uber Freight has been operating in Chicago since it launched in 2017, the new office is expected to serve as Uber’s first engineering hub outside of San Francisco.

Uber also plans to employ people in the Uber Ride and Uber Eats businesses, including sales, marketing, and operational staff and lawyers, in Chicago and other Midwest markets.

According to sources familiar with the development, the new space will be as large as 24 football fields spread across two floors. It is the largest lease signed in the Old Post Office building so far. The company now leases nearly 185,000 square feet in office buildings at 111 N. Canal Street and 225 W. Randolph Street.

Source: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2020/04/03/uber-halts-construction-in-chicago-the-other-big-city-where-it-plans-a-major-hub/